You don't know what trolling is.

My answer was:

"There is no circumstance under which a citizen of the United States, living in the United States, must choose between prostitution, theft, begging and death, with no alternatives."

I believe I was being fairly succinct. What part of my answer are you having trouble with?

Yeah, good luck with that.

ok, I guess I am being a total a-hole. I guess I wish there was a service where the police would cut the lock and take the frame so it wouldn't get destroyed. I honestly would have given it back to the owner after rebuilding it. I didn't mean to create such a hostile thread on my first try on bike forums. sorry. I definitely am not trying to compare myself to jean val jean (stealing bread to avoid starvation). sorry everyone.

I know ethics is not about toeing the line. If that's what you drew off of what i said, you need to read the rest of my post instead of just quoting one line out of 20.

I don't hear you say anything about blaming the person who charged up my card either. does 100% of the blame lie with that person and not at all on me? cause that's the implication with destroying the OP over this. What is & isn't ethical isn't written in stone either. I'm not saying that there aren't some bedrock ethical standards in place, but the idea of taking this bike and using it wouldn't even be in question in many other parts of the world. It would just be done. The ethical line here in this country has certainly changed much over time, a lot just over the past couple of decades. Why did the world's economy go into the crapper? Because, in essence, of a rather drastic ethical shift, not just by bankers and accountants but by common people too. When it comes to something as fluid as what is & isn't ethical, one really has to judge each situation on a case-by-case instance. Just flaming the guy because you don't know all the facts is as bad as taking the bike whether you know it's abandoned or not.

Prick? who's being a prick here? it wouldn't be the person making a wholly unjustified and unsupported judgment call on another's character by trying to draw parallels between 2 situations that don't correspond, would it? Way to mention bicycle theft in the same breath as **** and classify them on the same ethical level. I guess bike thieves should be put in prison for 10-20 to, yeah?

Go get 'em, slugger.

The acts might be different, but the justification is very similar. Keep on telling yourself whatever you need to in order to feel good about what you do.....because, you know, they were just asking for it, and it's a jungle out there!

Don't steal things.

Why are 100 babies all in the same place without their mothers?

Get a job.

If you can't get a job, ask yourself "what's wrong with me?"

Walk by the bike.

Walk by the babies.

If you have a bike... ride by the babies, on your way to looking for a job.

Don't lock your bike up in NY when you interview for the job, or you will force villains to contemplate stealing your bike. If your interview goes really long... they will justify taking parts off of it. Then you will have no transportation and you will ultimately be forced to choose between abusing babies and death.

It's not a pretty scenario. So, don't steal.

Seriously? Are you paralyzed by fear on a daily basis over whether you should have coffee or orange juice in the morning? I guess you probably err on the side of caution and nave neither...

oh did i just judge your character in a way that has nothing to do with what you just said? don't know what came over me...

Did I hurt your feelings? That's okay, because you're still a special little snowflake to someone.....

Oh, and this too.

I guess that we are different as when I see something I like my 'basic human response' isn't to steal it.

wow you guys are totally self-righteous *******s. it's obvious the bike got ****ed already, it's obvious no one is coming back for it, and it's obvious it will only continue to rot, rust, and take up space.

just take the damn thing and don't think twice about it! define your own morality, don't ask a bunch of uppity people jerking each other off about how upstanding they are.

it was meant to be ridden, not stuck to a fence. get the frame and ride that ****.

I was unaware that basic human response was to be a complete unethical tool. If I found a credit card I wouldn't go charging ****.

1) It's illegal
2) I don't need to
3) Karma baby

How is it obvious no one is coming back for it?

It was meant to be purchased so that Bianchi USA could make money off of it. That's it.

who leaves a bike in one spot for over a month?

don't think twice about it and just take it. no one will care. the universe has no morality. a bike is meant to be ridden, let it bring joy to someone who will take care of it.

Oh man, are you and the OP related?

Please explain how it is obvious that the person is not coming back. Please oh please explain. Do you know the person? Do you have the complete back story? Were you the one who locked it up?

Please. It's not about being self righteous it's just about being a decent human being. I don't go around thinking I should take that care that's sitting on bricks missing it's rims. Just walk away. You don't know the story behind the bike and frankly it's none of your concern. If you wanted to get involved notify the cops.

I know! And your someone's special little turd! See how that works?

I'm also guessing you think that everyone below a certain class is beneath you, and that everyone is guilty until proven innocent. But there you go again making presumptions about other people that are supported only by supposition. It kinda sounds like you're the one who got their feelings hurt?

wanna band-aid for your owweee?

*edit* - wow, you've got me doing it to now! way to go Zima!

Yeah I know the person, and they bought a dime-a-dozen trendy bike in the height of a trend and have already stopped giving a ****.

Decent human being? You're not hurting anyone, you're taking an abandoned frame.

one of the best things I have read in this thread is that if you have to think about it, it's probably wrong. I have stolen things before and I justified it to myself but felt bad about it later. Now-a-days, if I find myself questioning whether something is right or wrong, I just don't do it. Trust your gut. Great advice. Unless you are a sociopath, I guess.

Again assumptions assumptions. You assume it's abandoned and you've assumed the owner has no interest in it and is not coming back. Thank you for proving my point.

+1

If you have to ponder it and post on a forum for approval it's prob not worth doing.

I could easily think of several scenarios, not to mention the ones already named, where someone might leave a bike locked up for several weeks/months.

In the front of my apartment complex there was a mountain bike locked up to the stair railing for 6 months, but a few weeks ago I saw a girl unlock it and take it out to the park. I don't know why it went unridden for so long, but suffice it to say it would have been wrong for me to take it.

but shouldn't you be thinking about everything you do, right or wrong? saying that just because you have to think about it makes it wrong is one of the biggest fallacies put forth so far.

I think what they mean is if you doubt the ethicality of what you are doing, there is a good chance that what you are doing is unethical.

Thinking about, maybe. Questioning to the point of getting people's advice on a public forum, no.

Just like your mom!


ZING!!!

Oh I wholeheartedly agree. Think before you act and make an educated decision. Life lessons you learn when you're a kid doing stupid things. Obviously you're not going to apply these to the very basic decisions in life, but I would hope most people would think before acting when taking property that is not theirs and there is no 100% sign showing that the bike is free for the taking. I have no problem taking a bike out of a dumpster/trash after asking the nearby neighbors. However, taking a bike that was locked up just because some villains got to it first and it's been sitting there for a arbitrary amount of days is not on my to do list.

Thinking about something doesn't make it wrong, but if you have to think long and hard, post on a forum, seek approval from others, that may or may not be a sign pointing you in the direction of "just walk away".