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Stealing food

nah, i don't think it's immoral at all, you're not stealing for gratification, you're stealing to live. people who steal shit because they're cleptos or people who rob other people for the hell of it...that's immoral. stealing from a larger corporation who's already making millions, is not that bad considering they'll make up the loss within hours.

from the aladdin cartoon: "gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, otherwise we'd get along..." ;)


i am sorry about your situation though. i've been there somewhat, but in my situation i worked in a kitchen. there was a mother's day buffet and i brought home everything i could and it all went in a big black trash bag, all mixed together. my roommate and i lived off of that for a week.
 
randycaver said:
Soup kitchens? Homeless shelters?
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I don't know about homeless shelters..but all the soup kitchens I've ever seen (around here) only serve one meal a day...my close friend spent a good deal of time only eating one meal a day because the only thing he had to eat was at the soup kitchen or occasionally when I could buy him food.

I honestly wouldn't give a shit if it was immoral or not. IMO, I think it's immoral to take a life(like a cow or chicken) to eat, but people do that every day. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive...and frankly if I was starving I would have NO problem stealing food.
 
vegan said:
depends from who

from individuals, it's "immoral"

from big corporations that make way enough money... your health is more important then their extra profit
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I completely agree.
You know most people wouldn't even give stealing a second thought, and thats WITHOUT starving to death. Do whatever you have to do to make it, just don't get in trouble!
 
"immoral?" is the wrong question - try "is it unethical?" - to which the answer is "it depends"...

Frankly, if you're going hungry, the last thing you want to worry about is guilt trips.

From past experience - stealing from big supermarket chains is tricky - they have lots of surveillance and always call the jacks if they catch you.
Other tricks include - sit in a cafe and buy a coffee. Wait for someone to leave behind some food and take their plate of leftovers.
Check out the back of bakeries at the end of the day - they often throw out bags of just stale stuff that is still OK to eat.
Check out the dumpsters at the back of supermarkets - again, you're looking for stuff that isn't too old - can often get some half-decent vegetables. Be careful - even taking rubbish can be considered as theft ("It's not YOUR rubbish"). When dumpster diving, avoid anything with meat in it as this is most likely to make you sick if it's off.
Get in touch with groups such as - local food co-op, squatters collective, food not bombs etc - put in some volunteer time & make some contacts with people in the same boat.

I have done all of the above and lived!

Good luck - but you should be OK :)
 
yeah, if your that desperate, you can always find day old bagels or bread or what not behind bakeries. I'm sure if you went into a bagel shop or something a little before closing, explained your situation, and asked for the leftover bagels at the end of the day, they'd be more than happy to give them to you. There's no reason you should have to resort to theft
 
yea, bagel shops throw out bags of bagels at the end of the day... and shelters or soup kitchens wont accept them.
 
It turns out stealing wasn't the thing that got me into trouble afterall. I just got a warning yesterday for 'fare evasion'. Because I (couldn't) spend six hours walking to and from university every day, I travelled without a ticket. Because I explained the situation to the police officer (and showed him a bank statement, crying), he let me off with a warning. I have a lot more respect for the police now.
 
There surely has to be support in your college from the Students' Union or something similar, that's what they're there for. Explain to the head of your course what you're going through, they'll help you out. Fuck stealing or begging, you know you're better then that.
 
if you live by a movie theater then around when they close, ask for free popcorn. i work at one of those and we sometiems throw many bags of popcorn away every night.
 
There's food banks here as well as Salvation Army, and a number of places where people in need can be helped out. There must be something in your town. It's a lot les degrading than stealing.
 
^^ Stealing to live is not degrading. Saying it is, is the degrading action itself. Morals are not a good thing when survival is at stake. Saying so is like trying to say you are better than the homeless guy, that does not have the money to buy enough food to survive. There is no higher ground, when survival is at stake.


You could always try donating plasma for money, and there's food banks where you live right? I have to donate twice a week, and work all weekend, just to cover my rent, daily food, tuition, and travel expenses.

I go to the Food bank every Friday here in town, and pay 15 dollars for enough food for four people that supposed to last a week. With three of us, it doesn't last teh whole time, but we are extremely active, so eat a lot. It's cheap though, and it works for us, all of us being students, and all.
 
In my opinion, if you're going hungry as a full-time student, then the system has failed you in one way or another.
 
I haven't received my student loan because they didn't receive my initial application and they were having trouble processing the second application, as my home address had changed.

I'm too late to apply for a hardship fund.
 
I would LOVE to hear a cogent argument for the proposition that stealing isn't immoral.

Hypothetically, sure it's better to steal some bread to feed 10 starving children if there's no other way.

But in real life, 99.999999 percent of the time, there IS another way.
 
Why is stealing put under such a bad light? Stealing food to survive cannot be immoral IMO. Major corporations I have no guilt from stealing from, regardless of the item. I however would never steal (unless it's survival based, not likely) from an individual.
Why don't you go down to the supermarket, grab a trolley and walk around eating nut's and drinking drinks, then just put it back on the shelf. You cannot be busted for stealing until you leave the premices, and as you have nothing on you, you will not be caught (if someone saw you).
 
There are cameras in most supermarkets. I have my doubts they'd bust you over a handful of peanuts or anything, though.

That said, I used to go to Wal-mart and get a 20-oz drink from the cooler and drink it while I was shopping. If you act like you are doing nothing wrong, people genreally assume that you aren't (unless you're doing someting f'd up).
 
starlightgemini said:
Ramen noodles are like .10 a pack. At least in the US, anyway.
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Thats cheap. Its around .25, .30 here hehe.
 
ive seen them for as low as 10c, but yea, theyre usually around 25c. but still, for 3 ramen a day for two weeks at 25c each... thats a little over 10 dollars. you could borrow 10 dollars from anyone you know with not much problem.

youll never want to see ramen after that, but it will keep your belly full at least :)
 
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