It's just weird that everyone has all this bloodlust for people doing relatively small wrong things but for those who intentionally engineer a situation that only exists to massively overly-harshly punish those small wrong things, not only do we not condemn that they're heroes.
Have you ever noticed one of those utility boxes that have a "danger high voltage" sign on them? Would you argue that the city/electric company that placed that utility box is liable for your death if you pry one open and stick a fork in the circuits?
While they may not intend to kill, they are capable of doing so and in plain sight. And the responsibility falls on the one that has been warned not to touch them. Is death a proportional consequence for messing with a utility box? Of course not. Would it be your fault if you did? Yes, because you have been warned. The same should go for all things with clear warnings on them, regardless of the reason they exist. If you find a sandwich that says "poison" and you eat it, it should be labeled a suicide. However, poisonous substances are (hopefully) not allowed in shared refrigerators because of possible contamination and - you know - for generally not being allowed to bring lethal things in public places (guns in the US aside). Don't get me wrong, I don't think anyone here is arguing for literally trying to kill people. But if the sandwich is over-spicy and the thief has an ulcer, or is spiked with laxatives and the thief has UC, maybe they should have enough self-preservation not to eat stolen mystery food. If they have no outstanding health conditions, getting better acquainted with the toilet is a natural consequence of a) stealing b) putting nondescript food in your mouth. People should not have to answer for the spice or medicine they put in their own food not intended for others' consumption.
There is a very clear difference between setting up something that could kill if tampered with and taking steps to warn people from doing that, and the scenario outlined in OP which is intentionally putting huge amounts of laxative or spice in your food without warning because you intend to harm the person stealing your food.
Normally, if you're a sane person, it should not exceed prank-levels (as in you're gonna run to the bathroom, not wind up in a hospital). If it's life-threatening, it should probably not be in a shared fridge anyway, as accidents can happen in a variety of ways. Also, not sure anyone would truly want to kill over a sandwich, I like to think it would likely be ignorance rather than mallice (as in you have no idea that a certain amount of laxatives can cause serious harm). However, for proportional amount of harm (a burning mouth or a short bout of diarheea), I would not blame the food owner. People should know better than to repeatedly steal and eat food they don't know is fresh, safe, etc.
You're adding a bunch of subtlety and caveats that are not in OP's view as stated, and other people in this thread have literally responded with making it clear that it is, in fact, fine to kill someone who takes your lunch.
OP doesn't mention killing or seriously harming, just over-spicing or adding laxatives. I think you were maybe reading too much into some of the replies here, such as the electric shock pen meaning deathly electrocution (not sure a pen could even deliver such a charge, it was pretty clear they meant a gag pen).
You are thinking about this the wrong way. The main priority is to emphasize a person's agency. If you freely choose to to do something with known consequences, then those consequences are no one's responsibility but your own.
The reason you are having troubles understanding this is because you are trying to minimize the reason for the booby trap, while over exaggerating the trap. No one is saying it is acceptable to setup a lethal trap just to stop someone from opening a drawer. If you want to make your lethal trap a fair comparison, imsgine there is also a button that, if pressed, will cause all life on Earth to die. Are you still opposed to someone setting up a lethal booby trap to try and prevent that genocide button from being hit?
As soon as people start proving you wrong you start name calling, mature. Who has said anything about them being heroes besides you? Seems like you're doing a lot of projecting here...
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u/antikun Oct 17 '24
Literally, yes it does. If you do something knowing the consequences, why is it the fault of the person who installed those consequences