| Okay, excusing how bad the analogy is on a practical basis, let's look at what's going on here. 1. The pirates leave port to plunder, commit general acts of piracy and get that booty. 2. The pirates contract cholera and half the crew is incapacitated or dead. Point 1 is widely considered unethical, but the reasons that it is considered unethical depends on what basis you hold for ethics (stealing from a person vs stealing from society vs stealing from government vs liberating from "the system", that kind of difference). Point 2 is tragic (extreme distress), but could also be considered "karmic" (for lack of a simpler expression) depending on your ethical viewpoint. Is it pure piracy? Well, did they pirate anything? If not, then no that's not piracy, it's misfortune. Did they pirate something and then lose it because of the cholera? If so, then yes it's still piracy, they still committed the act. >In most societies, you gotta work to eat. I don't think it's necessarily a function of capitalism. No, it's a function of a living and dying organism which requires sustenance. Capitalism is simply a means of trading value #1 for value #2 between organisms in which the organisms respect property rights (capital) of the individual organism. |