Posted on 03/22/2023 5:42:49 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
What is the making of a "good person?" Different people use different scales to determine who is good and who is not. Over the years, there have been many factors that have been used to categorize people. And the internet keeps providing more updated benchmarks for us to measure people by. The latest theory that has been making rounds on the internet is the "Shopping Cart Theory" and it can perfectly define a person's character. It is a modern-day take on the trolley problem with a more real-life application and implication.
Depending on how you answer the following question, you are either a good or a terrible person. Would you return a shopping cart to its designated spot after use or would you simply leave it wherever you want? Of course, this is provided that there is no dire emergency. The theory was picked up from a Reddit forum and was posted by a Twitter user for further discourse. Now, let's see what it indicates.
there is no dire emergency. Do you accept your duty to return the cart even though you gain nothing?
"The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing," the post explains. "To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it." So if you chose to return the cart, then you are a good person. At least according to this theory.
The theory further states: "No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart, no one will fine you, or kill you for not returning the shopping cart, you gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct." The theory then goes on to make some extreme declarations. It reads, "A person who is unable to do this is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it."
The theory then concludes by stating, "The Shopping Cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society." While the original trolley problem was also an exercise to determine a person's ethics, the modern version is less violent while also being more apparent.
Not true
The teen agers the store hires retrieve those stranded carts
As usual between the poles there is an alternative. If you don’t return your cart do you at least abandon it where it doesn’t inconvenience others?
LOL
I'm a guy> Like most guys I don't keep change. Our car has ONE quarter. That quarter is more precious than gold when I go to Aldi's.
” Do you accept your duty to return the cart even though you gain nothing?”
We always return the carts to the stanchions. I figure we do gain something by doing that. If a store doesn’t have to hire a person to wrangle carts all day long, that might possibly keep prices lower. (I know; it’s a stretch, but it makes sense to me.)
So, are you saying that all the homeless are terrible people - because they are very often pushing a shopping cart around town?
Shame on you for judging those who are less fortunate than you.
(/s)
If I park and find a shopping cart someone just left in a non-blocking spot, and it’s near where I parked, they’ll I’ll return it to the same spot.
All other times I return it to the carriage return or up front of the store.
Hell, if I’m walking into the store and I see a shopping cart left behind outside that’s blocking a parking spot or a row, I’ll even return it to at least a non-blocking area.
I always run my shopping cart into the sides of other parked vehicles, I also like to kick the wheels so other shoppers get the cart with wobbly wheels.
Then when I’m finished I like to push the cart into oncoming traffic usually with a small child riding inside.
Sometime I take the carts home. I now have quite a collection for the coming apocalypse.
Does this make me a bad person ? I think not !
“This is a pretty good indicator of a person’s ethics, i.e. how you behave when there is nothing to make you act one way or another.”
I admit that when I have a cart full of shoplifted steaks I often don’t have time to return the cart, but I want to.
Does that make me a bad person?
My wife is handicapped, and a shopping cart left in the path between the parking slots is a great help. When we shop together, I always leave a cart there. Otherwise, it goes into a nearby corral.
Depends. Are you sharing those steaks?
Yep!
“Does this make me a bad person ? I think not !”
Long as you don’t remove those mattress tags!
“Depends. Are you sharing those steaks?”
Those are MY steaks. Are you too lazy to go steal some of your own?
Thank you. Somebody had to say it.
At first I thought the writer was only joking. No. She’s totally sincere in her belief, and in how significant that act is in defining her character.
See, isn't that a cool thing for me to do?
This is very limited part of the larger question:
Do you return your own shopping cart?
If an abandoned shopping cart is near your car, do you return it to the corral section?
If an abandoned cart is between you and the corral - but not threatening your own car, do you step over and push that cart to the corral?
Would laz hit it?
I always return it to the rack. Except maybe a few times in my life. But I also pick up the loose cart in the lot and use it to shop with.
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