Are You A Thief?

Would you walk into a Wal-Mart and steal a DVD or music CD? Probably not. Why? Because it's wrong or because you're more likely to get caught?

If you said it's wrong, yet still illegally download music and videos then you're lying because ultimately it's the same thing - your actions result in the loss of revenues for the creators of the media.

Unfortunately, according to the journal of Psychology, Crime and Law, most students agree that shop lifting music is wrong, yet have little qualms illegally downloading the same music (http://tinyurl.com/3dm6ka8), despite threats from the music industry (http://tinyurl.com/3ms9gvl).

The bottom line: students don't shoplift music because it's right or wrong; they don't shoplift because they feel it has a high deterrence factor (i.e., they are more likely to be caught and punished). Yet they are willing to steal by illegally downloading because it has a low deterrence factor (i.e., they feel they are less likely to be caught and punished). In other words, most people - at least in terms of this topic - are dishonest, lazy, evil, disgusting, trashy and cowardly thieves. 

In the end we have to remember that honest men are better than gold; from them comes life and nations are built prosperously by them, but evil dishonest men, they destroy nations. Which one are you?
Image: Boaz Yiftach / FreeDigitalPhotos.net