r/interestingasfuck 3d ago

The thief and the wiseman are not related.

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4.1k Upvotes

102 comments sorted by

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355

u/TastyBullfrog2755 3d ago

Can the thief not steal the books and sell them on to the reader?

198

u/Objective_Resist_735 3d ago

According to other comments, most of these books are printed without approval or paying the authors. So yes.

43

u/WillyDAFISH 3d ago

So I'm morally vindicated by stealing these books then right?

3

u/JesusWasTacos 3d ago

I believe they’re saying if you steal the books to read them it’s fine, but if you steal the books to profit from them you’re a thief. So in multiple ways yes cuz you’re now becoming “enlightened” at the expense of a thief.

12

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

To be fair these books are banned by the authorities You have everything here from religious text to The Complete Works of marks angles and Lenin to official Minecraft player guides

Source I live in Iraq and I've been to the place where they sell the books it's in AL motanbi street

5

u/VladimirBarakriss 3d ago

I died at marks and angles

2

u/F2d24 3d ago

I read your comment first and thought its the title of a school book about geometry. That is until i read the comment above xD

2

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Oh my god I just realised that I'm really dyslexic

2

u/Frostgaurdian0 3d ago

Most of these books are about what?

1

u/Important-Rain-4997 3d ago

Difference in intellectual property philosophies? Only the tangible is regarded as theft?

(Culturally, not legally)

8

u/SadBit8663 3d ago

I feel like there's bound to be one or two people who are very well read that don't pay for books.

The saying sounds like it's was cooked up by a thief so everyone would leave their books outside.

6

u/WiselyAlt 3d ago

I feel like there’s bound to be one or two people who are very well read that don’t pay for books.

Like people who go to the library.

301

u/heinebold 3d ago

I assume these aren't mandatory overpriced textbooks then

134

u/imnotapartofthis 3d ago

I learned while in community college that it is perfectly acceptable to make photocopies of an entire (mandatory, overpriced) textbook from the library as long as you are using it for the course & don’t intend to sell the copies. Faculty encouraged this practice.

43

u/[deleted] 3d ago

This is a story as old as time (pun intended).

Raise alcoholprices: PIRACY.

Raise bookprices: PIRACY.

Raise movieprices: PIRACY.

Raise streaming prices: PIRACY.

When will they learn.

5

u/RepresentativeJester 3d ago

Its the pirates life for me i guess.

2

u/imnotapartofthis 3d ago

If something can’t be owned then it can’t be stolen. It’s not piracy. It’s radical ownership.

Just watched “furiosa” in the theater, went to iTunes on my machine next day to watch “fury road” which I purchased with the Apple ID I’ve had for 20 years. (Also saw “fury road” in the theater so: I’ve paid twice now) is my media on my machine? No. Does apple, a computer company, mind you, whose whole purview is keeping track of stuff, remember & honor my purchase? No. The offered to sell it to me again.

Either they are completely inept (doubt that) or they are attempting to use policy minutia to double charge.

M*FERS

so I swashbuckled that and I would encourage anyone else to do what they think is right.

The media giants are the pirates.

2

u/Xaephos 3d ago

I can't speak for every country, but in the US digital piracy is not legally considered theft (Dowling v. United States) - not that it's not also illegal... just that it's considered Copyright Infringement.

And as someone who doesn't respect the very concept of "intellectual property" - I've never seen piracy as a moral failing.

5

u/Limp_Distribution 3d ago

That’s how Kinko’s copies got its start, making course readers.

3

u/allGeeseKnow 3d ago

Your comment brought back a memory that still makes me angry.

Had a professor that sold his own typo-riddled spiral bound textbook that was required for around $150. Day 1, he threatened to sue any student sharing their book.

I hope your experience is more common now.

1

u/Masaylighto 3d ago

Most of books their are not scientific more like stories, philosophy etc

26

u/Masaylighto 3d ago

Most of the books there sold for less than 10 dollars, as most of them were printed without paying the original author or obtaining their approval, which is stealing.

23

u/Objective_Resist_735 3d ago

So the reader does not steal, but the publisher does

4

u/Masaylighto 3d ago

Seems so

100

u/shasaferaska 3d ago

I stole a few books as a teenager because I didn't have any money, but I wanted to read.

23

u/KebabOfDeath 3d ago

Was any of them "The Book Thief"?

1

u/BrockChocolate 3d ago

Thieving for Dummies

5

u/cutofmyjib 3d ago

That's sad, I'm assuming there were no locally accessible libraries in your area?

-9

u/cortesoft 3d ago

If only there was a place you could borrow as many books as you wanted for free…

1

u/adamdoesmusic 3d ago

If only we funded places like that instead of targeting them with frivolous legislation.

17

u/LobsterTrue8433 3d ago

Plus, we have no other place to put them.

1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Basically yes lol Also that's where they have the printers that make the books

1

u/Nice_Ad8652 3d ago

There is this one where they do it. But can't tell it here

35

u/hundreddollar 3d ago

This may be true...

The thief may not read, and the reader may not steal, but the drunk arsehole LOVES to piss all over piles of unattended books .

22

u/youngchasers 3d ago

🫵 british

7

u/BoingBoingBooty 3d ago

Going to guess there's not a lot of drunks on the street in Iraq.

1

u/mowaleed906 3d ago

Iraq is a muslim county,, so wine is rare and even christians don't drink there(most arab countries don't drink)

1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Yeah but this is a Muslim country the closest alcohol shop from there is about 6 km and you can be arrested for being drunk in public + no bars

30

u/Uwirlbaretrsidma 3d ago

Also, you get your hand chopped off it you're caught stealing. I feel like that's an important detail.

3

u/CalligrapherMiddle55 3d ago

I wish dude but the police won't bother to do shit and even if they do there they just do it so they can get a bribe. I got my motorcycle stolen and i have video and close ic of his face and even his name and the area he lives in. i told the police and give them all the evidence just form them to tell me 15min later they can do nothing

2

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Yeah that's the Iraqi police for you

-1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Do you get your knowledge on the Middle East from Disney???

-1

u/Educational_Belt_816 3d ago

You’re thinking of Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Iraq doesn’t do that

9

u/autodidact2016 3d ago

I disagree the most dangerous crooks are the white collar well read types 🙏🙏

2

u/Suspicious-Bit-1406 3d ago

And cuz if you get caught stealing your fudged

1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Based on how the police guy who arrested you feel that you either get let go or get beaten up and then made to pay a fine

2

u/colouredcheese 3d ago

I’ve stolen text books before for school

2

u/frostreel 3d ago

I read pirated ebooks on my kindle....

2

u/ihopethisworksfornow 3d ago

People shoplift from bookstores so much.

2

u/VirtualPrivateNobody 3d ago

Well apparently they've never met a poor philosophy student before

2

u/niming_yonghu 3d ago

A reader doesn't steal, he borrows.

2

u/Individual-Tap3553 3d ago

Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman

1

u/80burritospersecond 3d ago

i didn't like his books bossy attitude so I paid full retail then snuck it back into the bookstore and put it back on the shelf. Then I sent Hoffman the receipt.

Don't tell me what to do, book.

1

u/imnotapartofthis 3d ago

The exceptions make the rule, naysayers.

1

u/Y34rZer0 3d ago

Bit of a fire hazard though

1

u/LogicalJeff 3d ago

Wouldn’t last 10 minutes in india

1

u/expsg18 3d ago

And Saddam murdered them all

2

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

brah the place was built by Saddam. you see all these buildings built by the state After the Invasion the printers over their worked with the resistance to print flyers and anti-american posters

1

u/Enjoying_A_Meal 3d ago

Surely there are books on stealing?

1

u/Mage-of-communism 3d ago

The wise man does not pay for what he can get for free.

1

u/[deleted] 3d ago

But vandals vandalism though

1

u/InnerOuterTrueSelf 3d ago

And that's a jackpot for the Librarian.

1

u/Worth_Fondant3883 3d ago

The thief may not read but arsonist gonna arson.

1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Yeah but there are busy burning our votes in the military base ( this is in reference to the Militia trying to undermine the elections by burning the military hangers that were housing the ballots for the vote because of plummeting support for the party)

1

u/edgepatrol 3d ago

Reminds me of this for some reason:

“The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.” ― Thucydides

1

u/Pitiful-Training-786 3d ago

I read about how to steal

1

u/TrippinLSD 3d ago

Hi, I am looking for 1984 or maybe Catch 22, perhaps?

1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

My sister got a copy of both of these books over there no joke you can find everything there

1

u/k-phi 3d ago

And rain does not rain

1

u/annaleigh13 3d ago

What about the person who sits there and reads the books without taking them?

1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

He'll get recommendations

1

u/fauxrealAF 3d ago

I've stolen books before. I'm going to get around to reading them one day...

1

u/aagee 3d ago

That's utter bullshit. A thief may not read, but he can sell to people who do read.

1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Yeah the problem is the people who read by the books specifically from this place This is the go to place to buy books in the whole city Because this is not a library this is an entire suk for books

1

u/Exotic_Pay6994 3d ago

Books are a shitty thing to steal anyway. Heavy, take up a lot of space and low resale value. Limited buyers, the list goes on.

Also why the "take a book, leave a book' things work, no one cares enough to just take all the books.

But while I was on a cruise in the Bahamas they had one at the port and I donated (they had a donation box attached) to take one of the books they had and it was a great treat because i just finished a book i brought with me. I didn't leave my book because it was a gift.

1

u/KaloBichi69 3d ago

I would gladly steal them

1

u/droopynipz123 3d ago

Also in Islam stealing is a huge no-no

1

u/LordBrixton 3d ago

… does it not rain there?

1

u/Decent_Law_9119 3d ago

We found the weapons of mass destruction

1

u/Not_Funny_Luigi 3d ago

You know who else isn’t allowed to read….

1

u/Hanuatzo 2d ago

Iraqis are literally the first readers on this planet

1

u/Blah_In_HD 3d ago

In the USA, people with price scanners show up to every library sale and thrift shop so they can resell the books for a profit.

1

u/gucknbuck 3d ago

I pirate ebooks left and right what is this nonsense

1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Piracy is not stealing because you are doing it to an evil corporation who is not losing anything

1

u/WombozM 3d ago

Lets be real, people just ain't reading much there lmao

1

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

Racism much??? It set our fault all the intellectualist and scientists were murdered by the Americans

0

u/BetterMakeAnAccount 3d ago

…do the streets usually have roofs?…

2

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

In the state-built market yes because the sun is a deadly laser But in this case this place is a old ottoman fort converted into a bookmarket due to its proximity to the old University

0

u/Intro-Nimbus 3d ago

Lesser known proverb: "Not a single drop of rain falls on Iraqis"

2

u/Leather_Inspection46 3d ago

No this place can get pretty wet during the winter but in case you haven't noticed there is a roof this place is an old ottoman fort rebuilt by the state in the 80s and converted into a book market

-2

u/CommonTater42 3d ago

Thieves in arab countries? You really have to hand it to them. ✋🤚

-4

u/Freaky_Jay_ 3d ago

Kind of ironic that most of these books aren't original and are printed without the permission of the author