On Fri, 23 Jan 2004, District Webmaster wrote:
> 1. When you create something, you own that creation. (If not you, then
> who should? The state? Society? Sounds like a communistic idea to me.)
>
> 2. It is not immoral to retain control of your creations, regardless of
> how rich you are, or how much others may feel "entitled" it, or any
> other reason.
>
> 3. Taking something that does not belong to you is _wrong_. It always
> has been, always will be.
You present these as axioms, that is to say, things that are obvious but not
necessarily provable. They seem obvious to you, but not to everyone; thus the
debate. Later you question "if the creator doesn't own things, then who
should", which suggests an axiom that everything should belong to someone.
Just for comparison, to see what happens if you assume the opposite of your
axioms, you might consider the law of Moses. The books of Moses repeatedly
talk about how, once you become God's people, he provides everything for you
instead of you trying to provide everything for yourself. Land was owned, but
always reverted back to ownership by the original families in Jubilee years.
Likewise, you were always required to loan your wealth to those who asked.
But, the loans were without interest, and *were automatically forgiven every
seven years*. One verse in particular speaks of the "wicked heart" of the
*lender* who is disinclined to lend to someone on the eve of the year of
release, knowing that he wouldn't be repaid.
So yes, there was property and ownership. I'm not trying to disprove your
axioms by thumping my Bible. But when I read those particular scriptures, I
the message I get is that ownership is not an acceptable excuse for depriving
people of things that can uplift and sustain them. And that's physical
property; the Law never even went near the idea of "intellectual" property.
-J
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