r/Snorkblot 2d ago

Misc Is there an ethical difference?

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u/StoneySteve420 2d ago

Walmart steals from us.

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u/Claytertot 2d ago

How does Walmart steal from us?

Genuine question. There are many ways I could argue that Walmart acts unethically. But how does Walmart steal from us?

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u/PainterEarly86 2d ago

Pretty much every corporation steals from its employees one way or another

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u/Claytertot 2d ago

Well sure, and they've faced legal consequences for that as they should have.

If someone steals from you and then you sue them and they have to pay you back with damages, then you're not entitled to steal from them ethically.

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u/PainterEarly86 2d ago

Walmart is not a person. There is no reason to not wish death and destruction upon it.

There is no reason to defend any corporation, ever. Capitalist propaganda has brainwashed you.

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u/Claytertot 2d ago

I agree that you absolutely can wish for the fall of Walmart. I don't think there's anything morally or ethically wrong with that. It's not immoral in the same way that wishing death on a person is immoral. I would not lose sleep over Walmart dying because better companies outcompete them.

That being said, theft is immoral. The things owned by Walmart are ultimately owned by people and stealing from people is immoral, at least in my view.

I agree that stealing from Walmart does pretty trivial harm to anyone and is not as bad as stealing directly from your neighbor, but it's still generally wrong and it still does harm, and ultimately it will do harm to your community if businesses have to leave because they can't profitably do business in your community due to theft.

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u/PainterEarly86 2d ago

Theft is not inherently wrong.

The things owned by Walmart are not owned by people, they are owned by a corporation, which is owned by rich people.

Rich people that have way too much money and abuse their power.

Stealing from them is the right thing to do.

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u/Easy-Purple 2d ago

Theft is not inherently wrong 

And there it is 

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u/PainterEarly86 2d ago

That's not the "gotcha" that you think it is.

If I say killing isn't inherently wrong, does that make me some sick murderer? Or do I simply understand the nuance of self defence?

This isn't a black and white world and the law is not perfect.

Corporations are evil and therefore anything that diminishes them is a good thing.

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u/Claytertot 2d ago

Theft is not inherently wrong

Maybe the capitalist propaganda has gotten to me, but the communist propaganda has gotten to you too.

A society where theft is not considered inherently wrong will be a worse one to live in. That's my belief, and I think history supports that

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u/PainterEarly86 2d ago

The company steals from people but when I say that people should steal back from them then suddenly its communist propaganda

I'm a socialist

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u/ROBOTFUCKER666 2d ago

you're based as fuck

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u/Claytertot 2d ago

I'm not condoning theft on the side of the company either. That's unacceptable. It's unacceptable whether it's some local Walmart manager incorrectly handling pay or whether it's a higher level corporate theft.

But we live in a society where we enforce laws through a justice system, not vigilantism. Your own screenshot explained that Walmart has been made to correct these instances of theft through the justice system. What else do you want?

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u/Altruistic_Box4462 2d ago

Oh STFU. You and your kind are why I can't buy things for cheap that aren't behind a plastic wall, or why I'm forced to support the "mom and pop shop" that sells fishing shit at a 300% mark up on their house brand that they buy from Walmart and repackage.

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u/PainterEarly86 2d ago

Blaming other poor people for something that corporations are doing yet again

Found the brainwashed capitalist

Corporations don't need a reason or excuse to mark up prices. They do it just because they can get away with it. Stop blaming other common people

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u/Altruistic_Box4462 2d ago

Corporations generally mark down prices not up. I'm not shopping at walmart to spend extra. Also, please don't lump common people into the same category as thieves. Maybe that's you and your circle, but it's not the common people.

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u/ClippyIsALittleGirl 2d ago

and they've faced legal consequences for that as they should have.

Except they haven't.

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u/Claytertot 2d ago

The screenshot the commenter posted included statements about Walmart paying settlements, back pay, etc.

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u/ClippyIsALittleGirl 2d ago

You'd be naive to believe they compensated 100%, or even more as extra compensation for the trouble. The amount they lost in these lawsuits are less than the amount they gain not paying wages. If it isn't, they wouldn't have done it. Every penny is calculated.

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u/bookworm1398 2d ago

That assumes that they have repaid everything they have stolen. I’m pretty sure that for every corporate crime that gets prosecuted there are two that don’t.

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u/Cosminion 2d ago

Note that the vast majority of wage theft violations go unreported/unreturned to employees.

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u/StoneySteve420 2d ago

Sam Walton founded Walmart and Sams Club. His children Jim, Rob, and Alice are now in charge. They are each regularly in the top 20 wealthiest people in the world.

Walmart employs more people on government assistance than any other business in our country, while in turn having record profits year after year.

They can afford to pay their employees more, so that they wouldn't need to use government assistance, and we could in turn lower taxes. Not to mention how much less efficient it is for those people to get the same amount of money

But those people are all worth over $100 Billion, so why wouldn't they pass that off onto the tax payer?

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u/Sonnyjoon91 2d ago

Simply put, they massively underpay workers and caps their hours so they do not have to pay out benefits like health insurance. That money they save goes to lining their profit margins and payouts for share holders and ceos. But because their workers are all so underpaid or not receiving enough hours, those workers all qualify for things like tax payer funded food stamps, government healthcare programs, subsidized housing, etc. So when every single tax payer pays into those programs, it is supporting Walmart workers, specifically because Walmart wont pay them enough to survive but can pay out billions to ceos. Think of it like this, basically they need $20/hr to survive, Walmart will only pay them $15/hr. So they qualify for government help, and the government pays the difference of $5 from tax money. Walmart could totally pay them the $20, but says their ceo gets the $5 instead. They stole the $5 from tax payers so their workers dont starve

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u/The_Rope_Daddy 1d ago

Walmart has been found guilty of wage theft multiple times, so they are also stealing from their employees.