Greentext

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This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

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Anon comes out to his religious parents (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Let's recontextualize this - my neighbor wants to spend $5k to remove a safety feature from their car, because they saw a dumb tick tock. Let's say it's ABS breaking, they're just absolutely convinced it's bad

Now I hear about this, and I don't want their stupidity to kill their whole family. I offer to do it for $1k, and instead I actually change their brakes.

Is this ethical? In the end, I didn't honor the words of our agreement, because it was very stupid. It would've been unethical, likely illegal, to do what they asked

I did save them money and prevent them from finding someone who would've done what they asked. I also did work on their car, just not what they thought I did. They're happy with the result, and no longer seeking to remove a system they don't understand

It depends on your ethical framework, but it seems like a stretch to call this theft. The guy in the post provided babysitting and mentorship, which is part of the agreed services. They would probably not have paid so much for what they actually got, but a certain amount of markup is needed to sell the ruse

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I'd say the intent is important here. If he did it to help the kid, I'd say you are right. If he did it to scam some people out of money for playing Xbox, then it's not an excuse. Since this is a made up story, we can discuss either.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Well taking the greentext at face value (otherwise what are we even discussing), it did help the kid. It prevented traumatic unscientific "treatment", as well as offering a supportive ear - that's helping the kid

Now let's say the intent was to scam - let's say you were scammed into a self help program, and it gives you the confidence to succeed or helps you heal from past trauma... I'd argue that you weren't scammed, because it worked (even if the intent was predatory)

Psychics come to mind - if people walk out better than they came in, I don't think you've done anything wrong. If they don't, then you're taking advantage of them - to me, outcomes matter more than intent.

I think of them like unlicensed therapists - even if you get a license, if you're causing more harm than help you're acting unethically, even if you've done the paperwork and have good intentions

Outcomes matter more than intent, they're what we have to live with