I’m talking about like tax fraud and stuff.
Do you be the snitch, or do you be like Skyler White and join them?
If it harmed an innocent, probably. If it harmed a government, corporation, or detestable person, no.
Rarely is it only one or the other and not both or even several together, though…
It’s a case by case judgment call.
First, Skyler was practically a hostage, and an unwilling participant at best. I would describe her more as an abuse victim who still stays with her partner than a collaborator.
But to answer your question it’s always going to be a case-by-case basis because it really depends on the impact of what they’re doing and the harm it causes.
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Defrauding the government? Meh, the government has been fucking us for generations, turnabout is fair play.
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Stealing from some oligarch? Shit, need a partner? Eat the rich.
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Embezzling from your small-business employer? That’s more likely to have a direct impact on your coworkers so I’d be concerned but still probably not.
But more serious stuff like dealing hard drugs to kids, selling guns and bombs to crazy people, killing people, blowing shit up, etc? Yeah, now we have a problem. Now, what gets done about that problem also depends on the person, the activity, and the circumstances.
- My husband came after me with a knife so I shot him? Cool, gimme a call if you need help hiding the body.
- Help I accidentally murdered someone (and it really was an accident)? Gray area, the law probably needs to get involved but I would encourage them to come forward themselves rather than turn them in. If they had a compelling reason not to I might help them or might stay out of it depending on circumstance.
- My wife wouldn’t let me turn our home into the set of a realtiy TV show so I could be a star so I beat her to death (an actual thing that happened)? Hello officer, it was this guy right here.
Agreed. Are they punching up or down? What’s the potential harm and who will it harm?
If they’re just setting themselves up for disaster it’s probably best to remain hands-off and distance yourself. If they have a family I’d at least tell them what an idiot they are and then distance myself. Probably might be worth checking with the partner and tell them to protect themselves if they aren’t part of it.
And yeah, like you said, anything causing harm to innocent parties like selling hard drugs or guns is a non-starter.
Yeah, their reasons for doing it matter too obviously. If they’re just fucking over other people to enrich themselves then I am much more likely to report them (and also stop being friendly, cause that’s not the kind of person I want to spend my time with.)
Also re:selling guns I should clarify - I don’t have an issue with selling guns, even illegally, unless they’re selling to people who shouldn’t have them.
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You don’t have join them, but you can also not see a god damned thing. Unless they’re doing something that screws over good, innocent people, especially on a wide scale, I’m minding my own business.
What offense?
exactly
I ain’t seen nuttin’, officer.
Snitch on a loved one? Never. If I thought it was ethically or morally wrong, I would tell them what I think about it. Good people also make mistakes, and good people can change.
What’s the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?
This is democracy manifest!
Ah I see you know your judo well!
Get your hand off my peNIS!
No and no.
Ponzi scheme or something like that? Yes, I would snitch. Bank robbery, please do not tell me. Cheating on taxes? I will judge you but no, not turn you in, if you get caught you get caught.
Snitches get stitches. If they aren’t hurting anyone let em be exercise ur right to silence if questioned.
If they get in shit tho don’t bail em out its not ur problem.
Depends on the details. If their crime hurt someone innocent (or had a high likelihood to) and it was intentional, yes.
If I’m likely to go down with them if they get caught, yes.
Otherwise, I ain’t no snitch and even if I were I don’t know anything about nothing.
Yeah, I would’ve done so too, because that dude was bankrupting people just to make himself a bit richer. I hope he rots in hell.
Snitches get stitches. Unless someone is hurting people, I ain’t seen nothing.
Depends, if the crime severely harms other people
Serious, yes. Tax fraud, no.
Tax fraud may be serious to the govt, and the punishment may be serious, but you’re not hurting an individual, you’re not putting anyone out if business or out of a job, you’re not committing treason, you’re not even displaying sociopathic tendencies. Maybe if it were on the scale of Trump’s tax fraud …
As long as nobody is hurt beyond the pockets, I don’t know shit about fuck.
There’s two extremes and the gradient between as I see it. One end of the scale follows their own code primarily and only respects laws they disagree with out of fear of social contract violations and the punishments. The other group follows and enforces all law without much critical thought about who is writing them and why. Unjust or not they don’t seem to care. Then your middle grounders.
Partners and I have always been pretty strongly on the “our own code is primary” side. Probably because I wouldn’t find someone with the other mindset attractive.
So, it really depends on what they did exactly. If I agree with them, I’m not saying shit. Although if I’m upset or not depends if we talked about it or not. If I’m just getting surprised by this, the sneaky secrecy behind my back would risk the relationship more than anything likely.
Tax fraud I wouldn’t be okay with, so if they went and did it anyways or didn’t talk to me about it beforehand that’s game over.
Not unless it was weird or something.
Violent offense?
Probably not, unless I thought he might hurt another person who was innocent. Then I’d have to think about it.
Maybe an exception for like a mass shooting, I think I might turn them in for everyone’s safety, because if the cops found them on their own things might get bad. Hard part is working out how to do it safely.
If it was a one -off and the victim deserved it? I have no idea what you’re talking about.
