Was Robin Hood a good guy?
 

My fav author - Scott Adams - put forth a fantastic philosophical question on his blog:
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_d...tlers_dil.html

In essence - the question is: Was Robin Hood a good guy - to rob the rich and help the poor?

What do you think?

Would you steal if you knew you wouldn't get caught - and could in return help a 1000 people survive?

Re: Was Robin Hood a good guy?
 

Wow, what a question, Ankesh!

Two wrongs don't make a right...or do they if someone is starving?

There's no such thing as 'never get caught'. You'll know and your God will know even if no one else ever finds out. This knowing, in turn, can have negative influences on other behaviors of yours...a cynicism, if you will, perhaps.

My over-riding maxim is people first. Now, whether that encompasses doing wrong to one to do right by another, is another interesting question.

At least you gave me another train of thought to hop on if/when I have time.

Sandi Bowman

Re: Was Robin Hood a good guy?
 

Hi Ankesh,

Not sure if you Also brought up the Robin Hood theory due to some recent Articles and Research. :)

But as you Know...

I Always have to "Twist" things for a little Fun and some Creative Thinking...

Just a Good Learning process in my Opinion!

And Yes!...We Definitely Do it in Life and in Business in a round about way... ;)

As You'll read in the Following...

Some Good research and Maybe some interesting Story telling for your Publications...

Study reveals "Robin Hood impulse" in human nature
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...1?feedType=RSS

MarketWatch: Robin Hood Shafts Subprime Sheriff
http://www.elliottwave.com/features/...d=3004*time=pm

The legend of Robin Hood
How the leaders of the hedge fund world have banded together to fight poverty - taking gobs of money from the rich, applying strict financial metrics in giving it away, and making philanthropy cool among the business elite.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...6204/index.htm

Phil

Re: Was Robin Hood a good guy?
 

What is that old adage about giving a man a fish, or teaching him how to catch his own? I don't recall how it goes...

Robin is largely a fictional character and though some of the stories may hold some semblance to the thirteenth century, the accounts of the government wouldn't be accurate either. Still, it is hard to sell stories about what could have been some displaced nobleman teaching cottagers how to fend for themselves or negotiate with their landlords. Who would be interested?

I think, regardless of how it is glorified, Robin was wrong.

Regards,
Steve MacLellan

Re: Was Robin Hood a good guy?
 

Steve, as I recall, the saying you're referring to goes thus:

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

I did NOT mean to imply that it was right to steal from someone to feed one who is starving. I was merely asking questions. Personally, I believe begging would be better than stealing if push came to shove. Neither being necessary would be best, of course, because then we'd be living in a kinder, gentler, world.

In an ideal world, there'd be no need for coveting what another has, no need for wars (which is just a variation of the theme on a larger scale), and so on. Instead of fighting, cooperation should be the name of the game for the good of all. No, I'm not talking about communism either (which is just a variant of the old rob peter to pay paul story). Cooperation with one another to achieve individual development and goals is the best model for a successful, sustainable, community, IMHO.

Sandi Bowman

Re: Was Robin Hood a good guy?
 

Forgive me if I am mistaken but I don't remember Robin stealing from the "rich" as the story is often related. He stole from the government only what they had stolen (taxed) from the people. Yes I believe the argument could be make in favor of Robin.

Re: Was Robin Hood a good guy?
 

Thanks all.


I've got to say - over the years - Michael Ross has got into my head :p

You have to protect property rights at all costs. Thus stealing is bad no matter what the reasons for it are.

The kicker that helps: You never know what the results of your deeds will be.

One may think that he is saving a 1000 people by stealing from people who won't miss it. But what if - out of those 1000 - Hitler arises?

Because you never know the end result, its necessary to have a fixed set of rules that should be followed all the time. And the fairest rules are based on "Protecting Property Rights."

Disclosure: I'm guilty of not following the rules all the time too...

A Theif is a Theif
 

Definition of Stealing:

To take and carry away, feloniously; to take without right
or leave, and with intent to keep wrongfully; as, to steal
the personal goods of another.

Hi Ankesh,

Thanks for such a GREAT Question.

A Thief is a Theif.

ANYONE that STEALS from someone else, no matter the INTENTION, infringes on another person's well being, and, in My opinion, is making the WRONG choice.

So, Robin Hood was a 'Bad Guy' no matter HOW you look at it.

Of course, the liberal media makes him out to be a hero because
that is what they WANT the US to do to those that do well.

Punishing those that have more just because they have more does not make it right to take from them to 'redistribute the wealth.'

This is called Socialism:

A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a
complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and
equitable distribution of property and labor.

Just My take.

(definitions above profided by: http://dict.die.net/)

I would enjoy seeing Michael Ross' response to this because it would be more clear than my explanations above (but I'm sure that I would agree.)

Two Stories will follow:
The Ant and the Grasshopper
***********************************
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Tom Daschle &John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Vote Republican

***********************************
College Student:
***********************************
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. She considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, but her father was a staunch Republican. One day she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition to high taxes and welfare programs.

He stopped her and asked her, "How are you doing in school?"

She answered that she had a 4.0 GPA, but it was really tough. She had to study all the time and ever had time to go out and party. She didn't have time for a boyfriend and didn't really have many college friends because she was spending all her time studying. On top of that, the part-time job her father insisted she keep left absolutely no time for anything else.

He asked, "How is your friend Mary?"

She replied that Mary was barely getting by. She had a 2.0 GPA, never studied, but was very popular on campus, didn't have a job, and went to all the parties. She was always complaining about not having any money, but didn't want to work. Why, she often didn't show up for classes because she was hung over.

Dad then asked his daughter why she didn't go to the Dean's office and request that 1.0 be taken off her 4.0 and given it to her friend who only had a 2.0. That way they would both have a respectable 3.0 GPA. Then, she could also give her friend half the money she'd earned from her job so that her friend would no longer be broke.

The daughter angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair. I worked really hard for my grades and money, and Mary just loafs. Why should her laziness and irresponsibility be rewarded with half of what I've worked for?"

The father slowly smiled and said, "Welcome to the Republican Party".
**********************************

Hope that You Enjoyed!

Christopher

So the US govt.......
 

is a thief. Sounds like the IRS to me...... Yep you've just described them to a tee.

later....
Pappy

Re: Was Robin Hood a good guy?
 

Hi Ankesh,

Thanks for this question.

Was it a "Let me post this to see if it draws Michael out" question? Either way, I'm here. HA!

I think you will Already know My Answer to that question.

Was Robin Hood a good guy - to rob the rich and help the poor?

Simple version... NO.

More Indepth Answer... Robin Hood is the embodiment of everything that is Wrong. He is the government summed up into one man.

Let me elaborate...

We start with Property Rights and some definitions to help those who don't know, understand them more fully...

Property: What is earned, made, created, bought, inherited, given, trade for and already owned, all without coercion.

Infringe: Take, damage and/or control the use of, without uncoerced permission.

With these two definitions we now have Property Rights as...

What I earn, make, create, buy, inherit, am given, trade for and already own, all without coercion, is My property and no person shall infringe upon it.

A Violation of an individual's Property Rights is Wrong.

Obviously, the largest infringer of an individual's Property Rights is The Government - they TAKE your money without your permission and under coercion and then Distribute it to those groups THEY deem more needy of it.

Robin Hood did the same thing - going by the Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood the story does change. But the modern version is "Rob from the rich and give to the poor".

An action which literally turns the Robbed into a Sacrificial Animal to Support the Life of the poor, ne'er-do-wells and can't-be-bothereds of society. Of course, those who define WHO the poor are are those who also do the taking.

This is, in essence, a Socialist thing. To TAKE from the hardworking, able and productive people and to GIVE to the incompetent, lazy-bones and unproductive hordes. A Property Rights Infringement of the Highest order. Where the Prime Motive Force stops being Achievement and instead becomes Proof of Need. The more Needy you can prove to be the more you will be rewarded. Conversely, the more able, hardworking and productive you are the more you are punished and your life and efforts sacrificed to those who had a higher Need Proof.

If it is wrong for Me to come into your home and threaten you with force, take some of your money and then use it to buy food, headache tablets, or pay rent - and - it is equally wrong for a few of my mates from the bar to do it on my behalf, why is it alright for the government to do the same thing? Just because THEY say it is The Law and They are a group of people who call themselves the Government?

It doesn't matter WHO does it. It is a Property Rights Infringement and is Wrong. It is sacrificing one individual for the benefit of another. That's what it is in its most simple term. A term you might not like to read so blatantly put. But one you Must understand and stop denying or Thinking Around or whatever mental games you play to avoid naming it for what it is (YOU being the generic You, and not you specifically).

Robin Hood is held aloft as some kind of Champion. But in reality, he is a socialist and common old thief turning one group of people, at their expense, into the life-support system of another group which he favors.

But you cannot expect people to think any differently when they grow up in such a system of human sacrifice where we Punish Effort and Hard Work by taxing it and Reward Laziness by paying it from the taxed money stolen from the productive.

Imagine if Property Rights was taught at school. I don't think I need to spell out how ruinous it would be for The Govt and even the Unions and other Socialist and Collectivist Groups. With such vested interests at stake and those same interests the ones who Control what is taught, it is no wonder such is not taught.

Robin Hood, a socialist slave monger who supports human sacrifice. Definetly NOT a good guy.

Michael Ross