Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggleton
Let us imagine a book being printed for sale, the creator deciding not to sell it and instead throw it away on the street. Would it be ethical for a passerby to pick up the book and sell it to another?
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It is at least as ethical as the creator's littering.
You set the stage, so I'll direct the actors.
Henry (played by Simon Helberg), our meek passerby, sees the book in the street. Being the overly orderly person he is, he can't help but pick it up and wonder who lost it; the book is in perfect condition and clearly isn't trash. His wife Martha (played by Sarah Silverman), a cynical, demanding and cruel woman many years Henry's senior, instantly objects to Henry's action; she objects to pretty everything Henry does. Henry typically just submits to her--apologizing even when he doesn't even understand the objection--but this time Henry acts differently. Oh, he apologizes in his usual way, but instead of just immediately discarding the book in the nearest trash container (he would never toss it back in the street), he decides to find its owner.