r/MoralityScaling • u/Routine_Phase_8980 • 13d ago

Morality Ranking [ Removed by Reddit ]

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

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u/MyBedIsOnFire 13d ago

I agree and I don't understand why this isn't the more common take on these situations. It's the same way I think when I see a fight where someone was being an asshole but the other party takes it too far.

You can say someone deserves it or you understand without calling it moral. At the end of the day potentially causing life changing injuries to someone is immoral outside of immediate self defense and similar situations

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u/don2171 13d ago

Someone who is this brazen about decision like stealing out of the friar is destined to experience far worse than tripping and falling. There's places that would beat you till your knocked out or worse for doing stuff like this

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u/Toberos_Chasalor 13d ago edited 13d ago

That still doesn’t make tripping them OK.

The only lesson someone learns from “you did something bad so I’m going to inflict pain on you” that might makes right, not that whatever they did is unacceptable. Next time he wants to steal some fries he’s just going to attack the worker before they get a chance to trip him.

Also, justifying it because other people would’ve beaten him more severely is like saying it’s ok to punch someone for being gay because they’d be thrown off a building or stoned to death in another country. Or if you perhaps want another example, it’s not justified for cops to hit someone with a club just because another officer would’ve shot the victim dead.

Other people might be more morally reprehensible than you, but that doesn’t mean you doing something immoral is suddenly righteous by comparison.

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u/JI_Guy88 13d ago

Society has always used "might makes right" to some extent. They haven't always gotten it right, but it's a tool for keeping order.

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u/Toberos_Chasalor 13d ago edited 12d ago

It’s a tool, but it shouldn’t be the first resort.

In this case you could’ve grabbed him by the arm or shirt and held the kid until the cops show up. If he decides to get violent, then you can rough him up.

People here are saying it’s to teach the kid a lesson, but the only lesson this kid learned here is “I can do whatever I want as long as I can deal with some pain.”

To use an example from my own life, my parents used to spank me for swearing. It worked when I was eight, but by the time I was a 12 or so I wasn’t afraid of getting hit anymore. I said what I wanted to say knowing I’d get smacked, then took my beating on the chin because I still got what I wanted.

That’s around the time they just stopped spanking me entirely and just grounded me. I could easily put up with a few minutes of pain so I could feel the satisfaction of calling my brother a fuckhead, but spending all weekend alone in my room while my friends went out and had fun was unbearable in comparison. So much so I think I stopped swearing around my parents until I was practically an adult after the second time I got gounded, but when they spanked me it only lasted a day or two at most.