---"Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com> wrote:
> Pardon me? "Lack of personal integrity?" That's a rather strong
> phrase, don't you think? Let's not Atlas overboard. The strong exist
> to serve the weak - but I consider myself one of the strong, and would
> never dream of enunciating that theory for my own benefit, or for that
> matter of using force to compel any person A to serve person B.
Does my
> defiance of Ayn Rand's morality make me a looter? And for that
matter,
> there is a long way between saying "I have a right to your new stereo"
> and stealing it. One can believe in that right, while still believing
> that your property rights take precedence.
>
If you advocate the use of violence and force to take away (steal) that which was *earned* by an individual then yes, you are a looter. I see no distinction. Wishing you had something that someone has earned is different. So is demanding that that person gives it to you. But, when you point a gun at that person's head (or have someone else do it), then you've crossed the line and become a looter.
I don't see any grey areas. Maybe I'm blinding myself, but I don't
think so.
==
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