28 Things That Are Moral But Illegal
Situations that gave people a moral dilemma.
Published 2 years ago in Facepalm
Laws are the cornerstone of any successful society. They are the reasonable, mutually agreed-upon regulations that keep a thriving population in check and courteous of one another. Laws are well-structured, intelligently crafted provisions in the social contract that are firmly founded in common sense.
Or maybe they're bewildering. Just bewildering, meaningless words supported by a state's tremendous force for no apparent reason. Here are a few examples of things that many would consider sensible -- indeed morally upstanding -- but are nonetheless rendered a a criminal act by a random string of letters on a certain page in a certain book.
Or maybe they're bewildering. Just bewildering, meaningless words supported by a state's tremendous force for no apparent reason. Here are a few examples of things that many would consider sensible -- indeed morally upstanding -- but are nonetheless rendered a a criminal act by a random string of letters on a certain page in a certain book.
7
As an American doctor who takes Medicare, I am not allowed to waive fees for procedures or charge a patient less than what our officially set rates are, even if they don’t have insurance. I’m also not allowed to ask a doctor from a different practice what a certain insurance company pays them for a service, as this has been deemed “anti-trust.”9
Grabbing thrown out clothes from clothing stores/furniture/appliances, brand new stuff that just didn’t sell or was out of season. Truly wasteful and probably a terrible. My mom used to drive behind strip malls with me as a kid and we’d find all sorts of good stuff, Pier 1 Imports used to have some good stuff, so did Burlington Coat Factory.20
Sharing medication. I understand that it can be dangerous in some circumstances. But, for example, I work in childcare, and if a child was dying of an asthma attack, I wouldn't be allowed to share my inhaler to potentially save their life. Most people with asthma use the exact same medication, and I don't think a couple of pumps of inhaler would endanger anyone unless they're severely allergic. If I was ever actually in that situation, I think I'd struggle not to share mine. Having the life-saving medication right there and not being allowed to use it seems crazy to me.28
Refilling parking meters for other people. Years ago, I worked in an affluent town where parking spots where at a premium. This town also had a notoriously efficient parking enforcement troupe. As I mentioned this was an affluent town, so the real crimes (domestic abuse, assaults, etc.) were rarely reported to keep property values high… I digress. Sometimes I would get to park a block or two out of my way to park on a residential street that didn’t require a permit. Otherwise I would be forced to feed the meter two dollars for two hours, then after four dollars for four hours if you didn’t move your car then you would find a citation on your windshield without exception. So, I would take the change out of my cup holders when I had some and feed meters I saw going low in my walk to work. One day this parking attendant saw me from across the street feeding a meter, and shouted for me to stay where I was. She darted towards me completely ignoring the crosswalk (haha). Asked me if that was my car, I asked, what did that matter? She persisted in my answering her question, but ignoring mine. So, I just told her I had to get to work and went about my day. The NEXT day it was like a sting operation, I fed two quarters into a meter I saw had only twenty minutes remaining. No sooner did I turn the handle than she came up behind me from the side alley. She’s shouting at me like I had smashed storefront windows with Molotovs. Next thing I know she is berating me about how much I was costing her personally and the town in lost revenue by doing this for the past few weeks. She wrote me a damn citation for almost a hundred dollars. I of course went to the magistrate to fight it and he dismissed it without a thought. Felt good until she found out what car was mine and was Johnny on the spot with parking tickets from then on. Fun Fact: The town soon after raised enough money to install digital solar powered meters. So they could just automatically fine you the microsecond the time limit lapsed. However, by accident I realized that the machines where inoperable on overcast days. So, on my way home from work (town was almost deserted by 9pm) I took egg and charcoal from the kitchen I worked and would rub that s**t on every meter I walked by. Never once was I stopped for vandalism.