Pirating Games to Mess With The Company

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LeonardoArruda

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So do you guys remember the Georgia law against abortion and how many companies reacted to it?
Netflix, WarnerBros and many others threatened to leave the state if they didnt gave up on the law.

WarnerBros has the rigths to one particular product that i had, the thing is, i bought it for my TV, i actualy bought 2 times, and when i heard about the Georgia case by Catholic friend of mine (who has a small Catholic youtube channel,it is in portuguese so there is no reason for me to share it here) he said:
“Dont give money to them! you want their product? PIRATE IT!”

Well that sounds fair to me, i bought this one product 2 times, and instead of buying it (for the 3rd time, but this time to my computer) why dont i pirate it just to mess with Warner Bros? i mean the product in question is old and even thougth its still on sale, the loss will be tiny considering they are THE Warner Bros and they are too busy supporting abortion to care about this issue.

Any thoughts?
 
  1. Stealing from people who support abortion is still stealing. Just because people are wrong about something doesn’t mean you have a free pass to wrong them.
  2. Pirating an old piece of software is not going to “mess with them.” They’re a billion dollar company. It’s not going to actually hurt them.
 
RolandThompsonGunner said:
Pirating an old piece of software is not going to “mess with them.” They’re a billion dollar company. It’s not going to actually hurt them.
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While this is likely true, I don’t see it as a justification because it’s on the order of “WalMart is a billion dollar company so my stealing one candy bar is not going to actually hurt them.”

A possible justification might be that the person has already bought the software two separate times in the past and how many times should one have to pay for the same product over and over. This would be a matter of someone’s prudential judgment though, and not based on “this company supports abortion” or “this company is so big they won’t miss it” but rather “it’s unjust to expect a person to pay three times for essentially the same thing”.
 
RolandThompsonGunner said:
It’s not going to actually hurt them.
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No but they would have a loss of 20 dollars (becuse i would use the product but wouldnt pay for it), but i already bougth the product before so i’m confused, i mean it would be stealing to use a product without paying for it, that’s the problem with piracy, the creators of the product need to earn money.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
While this is likely true, I don’t see it as a justification because it’s on the order of “WalMart is a billion dollar company so my stealing one candy bar is not going to actually hurt them.”
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No, I know. My point is “in addition to being wrong, it’s also going to be ineffective if your goal is to somehow ‘hurt’ them for supporting abortion.”

But yeah, it’s wrong regardless.
 
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Yeah, in the WalMart case it would be wrong, the company needs that 3$, but WarnerBros got 130 bucks out of me just on that particular product, so i was wondering if it would be ok to download it, one thing is for sure, if i cant pirate the thing i wont give them my money either, becuse of the abortion thing.
 
As I said, this is a matter of prudential judgment. If you are not comfortable with making the judgment on your own, please discuss with your priest.
 
I didnt do anything (yet?), that’s why i’m asking first, i dont think i will do it, its not worth it, not going to give them money but i wont steal either.
 
Its hard to ask my priests about this becuse they dont get it, i talked about “downloading software that i cannot possible buy becuse the company died” and he said “nah its ok, if it is on the internet than is free and legal”, there is one website that offers free software that no one sells, those softwares usted to be paid but even if i wanted to (and i do) support the developers/creators/artists, i cant, either becuse they dont exist anymore or becuse the product is not available anywhere, i am afraid of using that website becuse it migth be stealing (?).
 
LeonardoArruda said:
I didnt do anything (yet?), that’s why i’m asking first, i dont think i will do it, its not worth it, not going to give them money but i wont steal either.
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Something to consider also is that part of the cost of software is paying the developers who make it. Should I, a software developer, be refused pay for my work because my company, without my approval, supports abortion?
 
Good point, the developers are talented and deserve my money, but the money also goes to people who support abortion, so for the sake of not stealing (if it is stealing) i decided not to pirate it, but i am afraid of buying it and allowing people like Ann Sarnoff to do things such as “leaving Georgia becuse they wont kill unborn children”
 
LeonardoArruda said:
why dont i pirate it just to mess with Warner Bros?
…
Any thoughts?
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I advise you not to do it, for the simple reason that it is spiritually harmful to you. The process of considering this act, carrying it out, and using the product is a kind of devotion. You perceive an evil, you keep it in your mind, and you are reminded of it when you use the product. It diverts some of your time and energy away from righteousness, justice, and love.

Fighting evil is not the same as doing good. Fighting evil with evil, even a lesser evil, harms us. When we fight evil, we must do it with all righteousness, justice, and charity.

See also Luke 9:5 and Luke 9:53-56.
 
Two wrongs don’t make a right.

It’s not okay to sin against sinners.

A video game is not a ‘need’.

If you really want to take a private moral stand against a company that openly pressures governments towards intrinsic evils like abortion, do what I do and sacrifice your enjoyment of their product by neither buying nor using it.

E.g. I haven’t used Netflix since their explicit pro-abortion government pressure. I doubt they particularly care (what’s the loss of one customer from their perspective?), but for my private conscience, it was the only reasonable way to live consistently with my beliefs. Note that I don’t try to pressure others to imitate my action. Note also that I don’t consider myself entitled to steal Netflix’s content if I’m not going to be paying for it.

Side note… if we find ourselves considering stealing a luxury product (sinning) before we consider simply going without a luxury product (sacrificing), maybe this is a helpful moment to re-examine what we’re really willing to offer God, and how strong our conviction over a given issue [e.g. abortion] is.

PS I see that you’ve decided not to pirate the game, but still feel uncomfortable buying it. 🙂 Good job! That’s where I landed, too. I can’t tell you with authority what to do here… but know that if you do decide to go without the product entirely, you have company. And whenever you remember the inconvenience caused by your sacrifice, that can be your reminder to pray for those who push for abortion.
 
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