this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2024
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What a wholesome story
Of a guy stealing $1000 and not doing the job he we hired for? Good for the kid, but it doesn't change the fact he stole $1000. And put the kid in a morally ambiguous situation of having a $300 that he knows were stolen from his parents.
Edit: I think people are missing my point. There are three options:
I'm advocating for option 3, not as people seem to think, option 1.
These are the possible choices:
1.) He should've said nothing as he wasn't willing to do the conversion therapy and therefore quite possibly let the kid go to a real conversion therapy "camp" of which usually inflict lasting harm.
2.) Actually have done the conversion therapy as asked.
3.) Lie as described in the OP
You said "good for the kid" indicating that you think that conversion therapy is a bad thing but also somehow came to the conclusion that 3. is the least moral choice? What? Baffling.
No, the option I'm thinking of is lie to the parents and don't keep the money. Either donate it to victims of "real" therapy or give it all to the kid at least. As it stands, he scammed the family out of the $700. The good deed of saving the kid doesn't cancel it out.
Your option 3 is far better than the others, but it's not the only option.
Donating stolen money doesn't make the money not stolen.
And the guy did spend time with the kid, an hour a week for 10 weeks, plus expenses (Xbox games, snacks, etc). So he was absolutely providing a service for the kid, it just wasn't the service the parents expected. I don't see any reason for the guy to not expect some form of compensation for that.
I don't see this as stealing, as conversation therapy is a fraudulent and cruel practice in the first place. Bro actually did a form of conversion therapy in a safe and mentally supportive environment. Granted the "conversion" part may have been inadvertent, but he did help someone deal with a potentially traumatizing situation and saved him from harm. Which gave OP the time and space to really look at himself and discover who he truly is. I think that's worth the $1K that would've gone toward a far more evil practice.
Stealing from bigots isn't the moral evil you seem to think it is.
Two wrongs don't make a right is what I'm thinking.
You can't purchase a belief. You can only purchase a claim. They can't buy their kid's sexuality, but you don't have to be straight to claim heterosexuality.
Neither of the two acts is a "wrong" in any legal sense, so any concept of "fraud" is off the table. There is no established set of relevant shared standards or expectations adopted by the affected individuals, so ethicality is also off the table. That just leaves morality to determine right from wrong, and morality is personally subjective: it's only a moral "wrong" if the individual perceives it to be a wrong.
Aside from situations where legally or ethically compelled to speak the truth, I think that deceiving bigots is a moral imperative. They should be lied to everywhere it is legal and ethical to lie to them.
They want to pay me to lie to them? That's a win for everyone involved.
Oooo. A loophole. I love loopholes.
Can I defraud the Westboro Baptist Church with a clear conscious?
I don't know if you're being serious or sarcastic.
Yes, please do.
Stole $1000 (likely from someone who wouldn't realise it's even gone) to prevent untold trauma. I understand it's a grey situation but knowing how damaging conversion therapy can be to a person, I'd say theft is certainly the lesser of two evils.
Imo option 3 is basically what he did - keeping $700 means he basically took $35/hour as a babysitting fee. Not sure what’s standard for babysitting rates (child free for life), but I sure as shit wouldn’t take responsibility for a child for that much lol. The amount aside, rather than theft I see the situation as him inflating the value of the service he was providing - still a shitty thing to do in other circumstances, but one we collectively accept as not illegal theft when it’s by brand names and “luxury” stuff.
In other circumstances I’d fully agree with your point that the kid’s in a morally ambiguous situation with money he knows was ~~stolen~~ scammed from his parents, but from both the kids perspectives at the time thinking anon really was gay, he was in a vulnerable position with a very real chance of being cut off by his parents and needing to support himself. That removes any ambiguity imo, even ignoring the fact that his parents are bigots who more than deserved what they got
There are no government standard conversion therapy treatments.
Staying in the closet is the intended outcome and they received that service.
Ha, well I can't argue with that.