# Are there things that aren’t immoral but you still shouldn’t want to be the kind of person that does them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 7, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985 "2024-04-07T23:49:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/21 "2024-04-08T19:15:32Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Here, let me actionalize that impactful statement of yours. I will help with the synergies to get it into our business flows. God I hate corporate speak. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/22 "2024-04-08T23:23:59Z")
How about hypocrisy? Hypocrisy itself isn’t really immoral, although the thing you’re being a hypocrite about may be immoral. But it’s possible to be a hypocrite about other, morally neutral issues. Like a fitness guru who hectors his followers about eating junk food, but then sneaks out to McDonalds on a regular basis. He’s a hypocrite, and I wouldn’t want to be him, but I don’t think that’s inherently immoral. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/23 "2024-04-08T23:27:13Z")
The main moral downside to being a person who does that is being a person who does that. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/24 "2024-04-09T01:58:27Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > where you never leave the resort or cruise ship Resort? Maybe. But I’ve been several cruises where I just Do. Not. Give a shit about some of the “destinations.” Being on the ship away from most of society _is_ the point of a lot of cruises I’ve been on, for me. And sitting at an uncrowded bar on the boat is way more my style than sitting on a crowded beach with screaming kids everywhere and extremely pushy hawkers selling their garbage. This is not to say I _never_ get off the boat, though. It definitely depends on the destination. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/25 "2024-04-09T02:05:45Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > And sitting at an uncrowded bar on the boat is way more my style Absolutely. When I cruise, I usually get off the boat, but I often get back on much earlier than most other people. You have way more fun when it’s just you and the bartender. They’re used to serving dozens of people at a time, so one customer is a walk in the park, and they have time to just hang out and shoot the shit. My last cruise through the Panama Canal, I had a great time with one bartender, who told me a lot of cool stories about her time on ships. On another cruise, my “Early afternoon read a book” sessions were so regular, the bar guy would be bringing me the bucket-o-beer I always ordered before I’d even gotten settled in my chair. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/26 "2024-04-09T02:08:07Z")
I think you and me could be friends. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/27 "2024-04-09T02:16:11Z")
> [@bump](#): > > It’s not immoral to be chronically late to everything, but I wouldn’t want to be that guy. Yup. I have a friend who’s like this. He knows he’s always late, and it’s clear that he feels his own schedule is more important than anyone else’s. It’s disrespectful and rude. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/28 "2024-04-09T02:25:56Z")
I wouldn’t wanna be the person who claims they’re in pain, all the time for dramatic effect and to get what they want. Nooooo, Ivy. I don’t want to be that person. I _never do that_. Not me. Ever! I swear. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/29 "2024-04-09T02:44:39Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > God I hate corporate speak. Oh, come on. It is the funniest thing you are likely to hear during your work day. > [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Interesting question. My first thought was that going on a vacation where you never leave the resort or cruise ship isn’t immoral, but I don’t want to be the kind of person who does it… Well humph. I never left the ship on my first cruise. However I was on the QE2 in the middle of the Atlantic, so I would have gotten rather wet. > [@snfaulkner](#): > > And sitting at an uncrowded bar on the boat is way more my style than sitting on a crowded beach with screaming kids everywhere and extremely pushy hawkers selling their garbage. This is not to say I _never_ get off the boat, though. It definitely depends on the destination. I agree about beaches. We hate beaches. When we stopped in Aruba on our Panama Canal cruise, we didn’t go to the beach, we got off, went to a supermarket and a museum on Panama hats, and then rode the bus all the way north to the light house and then all the way south to the refinery. The driver asked us if we really wanted to get on that leg, but it was far more fun than the beach, and we got to see the dry inland and where the real people lived. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/30 "2024-04-09T21:05:18Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > In 1910 a newspaper asked around for responses to the question of “what is wrong with the world.” G.K. Chesterton replied: > > “In one sense, and that the eternal sense, the thing is plain. The answer to the question, “What is Wrong?” is, or should be, “I am wrong.” Until a man can give that answer his idealism is only a hobby.” How is that? _I’m_ certainly not what is wrong with the rest of the world, and neither was G.K. Chesterton, we are/were just individual people. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/31 "2024-04-09T21:08:27Z")
It’s a quote often cited in discussions on Stoicism, which has had an uptick in popularity in the last few decades ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/32 "2024-04-09T21:42:42Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Hypocrisy itself isn’t really immoral, although the thing you’re being a hypocrite about may be immoral. As [a wise man](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_de_La_Rochefoucauld_(writer)) once said, it’s the tribute vice pays to virtue. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/33 "2024-04-10T06:28:59Z")
> [@Cmyers1980](#): > > I was reading a thread about whether in and of itself incest between consenting adults is bad My cousin and I don’t think so. I’m ten years older so when she was a teenager it would have been bad. But I’m in my 70s and she’s in her 60s and we both realized we always were attracted to each other. So hey. Move over Costanza. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/34 "2024-04-10T07:04:28Z")
I’m not sure cousin/cousin is incest…as adults of course. Seems incestuous but lots of Royals(and Arkansans, I know) did it. Anyway when I think incest I think Parent or Aunt/Uncle and kid in the family. Maybe an older sibling and younger. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/35 "2024-04-10T13:18:42Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > …the law often lags behind societal ethics, and as a result, certain acts that are morally questionable are legally protected. And vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/36 "2024-04-10T13:31:24Z")
“Save scumming” in video games, namely the practice of saving the game a lot and reverting to the last save whenever something you don’t like happens (For example saving before opening a door in X-COM, if there are too many aliens behind or the alien’s reaction shot kills the door opener, reload). It’s not immoral per se, nobody’s harmed by it, but definitively wouldn’t want to be a sacve scummer. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/37 "2024-04-10T13:33:54Z")
Sorry, that’s in the immoral column. Along with many – most, perhaps – capitalistic practices. My moral standards are considerably higher than a lot of people’s, it appears. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/38 "2024-04-10T13:39:47Z")
Yeah I think that falls under “Immoral but not illegal” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/39 "2024-04-10T19:51:48Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I’m not sure cousin/cousin is incest…as adults of course. > > Seems incestuous but lots of Royals(and Arkansans, I know) did it. Generally with Royals it is more like third cousins. 2nd and 3rd cousins is AFAIK always legal. In some states it is illegal, in others only ortho-cousin incest is illegal, and in others, iirc it’s all a go. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985/40 "2024-04-10T20:44:57Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > In some states it is illegal, in others only ortho-cousin incest is illegal, and in others, iirc it’s all a go What do you mean by “ortho-cousin” . My understanding is that it is a cousin from your parents same-sex sibling - a cousin who is the child of your mother’s sister or your father’s brother. I doubt there are any states where your mother’s sister’s child is prohibited but her brother’s child is OK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-things-that-aren-t-immoral-but-you-still-shouldn-t-want-to-be-the-kind-of-person-that-does-them/999985.md?page=3)