I was mugged yesterday. It was quite distressing. Or at least, would’ve been if the ‘mugging’ had been direct; if a switchblade had coaxed the money from my pocket, or even if the producer of a particularly menacing stare had demanded it from me. I was robbed in the least emotion-stirring way I can think of, by a woman and her young child, via a photobooth. I was aggrieved nonetheless, but can I claim that the woman and her child were morally reprehensible for their actions?

 There I was, wanting some passport photos, £5 in coins in hand, slowly entering them into the machine slot one by one. The last coin didn’t register. The machine has no capacity for giving change. I’m alone, no one to look after the machine for me. No more change in my pocket. Stripped of freedom, I have to get another pound, take that small hit, but be able to get the passport photos I required. Two minutes later, I return, woman and child outside my booth, printing their commemorative Royal Wedding photos. They could’ve at least got something decent.

 Now, can it be said that they directly caused my ‘pain’? If they did, it’s clear that they are morally reprehensible. Let’s analyse this in terms of counterfactuals; if they had not used my photo credit, then my photo credit would have remained intact… wait, that doesn’t work at all. It’s quite possible that had they not used my credit, someone else may have. So there’s no direct causal link between their use of my credit and my pain, it’s quite possible that my pain would be intact, even if they had not used my credit. Someone else could’ve used my credit. They’re not directly responsible. Then who is?

 We can pick out two direct causal factors, we can either blame the machine, or we can blame ‘everyone’ (for permitting such actions in general). If the machine had not been faulty, then my photo credit would have not only remained intact, but would have been completed. The whole issue would never have arisen. On the other hand, mechanical failure is inevitable, plus I want someone to be morally accountable for my pain (this is surely not unreasonable). Crucially, had no one used my photo credit, then my photo credit would have remained intact. The individual is not directly responsible for my ‘pain’, but ‘everyone’ is. How can we draw a sensible conclusion from this?

 ‘Everyone’ is identifiable with the general culture the majority promote. If the general culture prohibited indirect leeching off of others, then problems such as this would not arise. As no individual is necessarily reprehensible (exceptions are accepted, this woman and child may well have had their lives at stake and required commemorative Royal Wedding photos to save themselves, who am I to stop them?), the general culture is to blame. If no one took advantage of fortune (when it is clear that this fortune is balanced by the misfortune of others) in such a way, then ‘pain’ would not be created in this way.

 This same conclusion, if not a stronger one, can be drawn for illegal downloading of music. I find it unfair to pick out individuals – everyone can justify themselves to some extent on an individual level, but only because the general culture does not actively prohibit downloading. It doesn’t matter if the artist receives a miniscule amount of the profits, that the record labels receive a lion’s share; that you can’t afford to buy music as vociferously as you consume it. On an individual level, these aren’t morally reprehensible in themselves, but the culture that justifies such excuses really is. If anything, the individual can be held more reprehensible than the woman and child who thieved from me, as downloaders are acutely aware of the fact that they are short-changing their favourite artists when they indirectly steal their music. Just because there isn’t an active real process of stealing, in either the case of photobooths or when acquiring music online, it does not mean that the culture of allowing such things to occur is acceptable.

 The general culture and attitudes held need to change in order to facilitate fair reimbursement for music artists. However, such a task won’t be easy. If I found a fiver on the floor, I’d keep it. Wouldn’t you? And there lies the problem…