So your morality question is "if I can get away with stealing, why not?" Well, two answers:
1) Morality says you should not steal, even if you can get away with it.
2) Why are you so sure you can get away with it?
Jonathan Paul Burrows realized he could dodge train fares, and believed he would not be arrested. He was right, but did not realized that if it were made public he would lose his extremely lucrative job as a London finance trader. If we cannot trust him with the little things, we cannot trust him with the big things.
https://www.theguardian.com/business...nathan-burrows
Paras Shah was caught stealing food from the Citibank cafeteria, and lost a job worth millions of dollars.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51369410
ThatOwlWoman (09-18-2021)
Sound Transit has said straight up that for the next eight months no one will be punished for not paying, as has been the case for about a year now. If we want to ride for free then we can they say. So why should I pay....that seems stupid.....if they dont care if I pay why should I pay?
https://mynorthwest.com/3144490/fare...ansit-trains/?Fare ambassadors give Sound Transit a less intimidating way of checking that riders are paying their fares. The agency also wanted more diversity in their fare enforcement staff. CEO Peter Rogoff said the goal is to create more equitable fare collection processes.
“We are pleased in our new hires that they are able to reflect the diversity of the community that we’ve served,” Rogoff told the Sound Transit Board last month.
Rogoff said this shift is about passenger education and customer service, not enforcement. There will be no citations written during this eight-month pilot program, so you can essentially ride the trains for free, if you choose to.
“They will be focusing on low-income fare outreach, rather than discipline,” Rogoff said.
Just like the fare enforcement officers in the past, these new fare ambassadors will enter both ends of the train car and work toward the middle, asking everyone for proof of payment. Those who have not paid will be given a card with a QR code for the fare engagement website. It will inform them of low-income ORCA card options or subsidized passes.
"Everywhere America goes it spreads war, misery, and destruction."
The Han...every day....all around the world.
Morally, you should not steal even if you can get away with it. You framed this as a moral question, so that is the moral answer.
Socially, you can lose social status, and be punished even if you are not criminally punished. There are many rules of society that are polite, but not legal. If you break those rules, you are punished by loss of status.
I gave two examples of people who thought they could get away with stealing small amounts of money, because they would not be criminally punished. The reality is that if people see you stealing small amounts of money, they will not trust you with large amounts of money. One of the main ways to get wealthy in modern capitalism is to have people trust you with their money.
If most everyone did not pay Sound Transit would be forced to change their policy, they would need to either demand payment or figure out a way to finance operations without fares. I argue that refusing to pay under current condition is an act of civil disobedience, forcing them to come up with a more equitable policy then allowing the chumps to pay, as the not chumps to ride for free. Of course it is not really for free, the taxpayers fund operations far more so than the users, less than 10% of their monies currently come from fares.
"Everywhere America goes it spreads war, misery, and destruction."
The Han...every day....all around the world.
"Everywhere America goes it spreads war, misery, and destruction."
The Han...every day....all around the world.
I should point out that a little wrinkle is that I am a citizen of Thurston County, which does not pay into Sound Transit via various taxes. If I was a citizen of a Sound Transit County I would be, if we were to accept the argument that not paying the fare is stealing, I would be stealing from myself and the other taxpayers. I think this strengthens the argument that not paying as a acceptable form of civil disobedience protesting Sound Transit policy of not caring if fares are paid.
"Everywhere America goes it spreads war, misery, and destruction."
The Han...every day....all around the world.
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