Did I Fence a Sign? Looking for artwork for my home, I recently bought a used road sign online - a bright blue one advertising a campground ahead. I liked it and ended up buying a second one. Only after I purchased those two signs did it occur to me that they may have been stolen. Now I feel guilty. Throwing them in the recycling bin doesn't really make the situation right. Selling them to someone else is no better. Reporting the sellers seems hypocritical - plus, I have no evidence. What is my obligation as an ethical citizen? Here's the short answer: You're fine. But now for the long answer: This issue involves three components. One is the amount of information you have. Another is the reasonable limitation of human culpability. A third is your intent. Taken together, the offense is negligible. You believe this sign may have been stolen. You might be right. But you're not definitely right. It's not as if the only way to get your hands on a road sign is to steal it. Still, for the sake of argument, let's assume the sign was stolen. We still can't be certain if it was taken by the same person who sold it on the Internet. Maybe it was stolen in 1975 and has changed hands 10 times, nine of which were legitimate business transactions. Obviously, that wouldn't erase the original theft. The object is still hot. But it does significantly diminish the illicit impact on a random party who ends up possessing it. Look - it's not as if this road sign is the spoils of a war crime. Some goofball just ripped it off a post. If we could catch that individual, he or she should be charged with vandalism and petty theft. But the same level of culpability for that minor transgression does not extend to every person connected to the sign for the rest of time. At some point, it just becomes an object that exists in the world. I suppose if you were consciously scouring the Internet for stolen things, my response would be different. You would be perpetuating a black market for decorative road signs. But this is where your intent factors in. You simply desired an unconventional wall hanging; at this point, that's all this road sign is. It can't be returned to the campsite. It can't be dusted for fingerprints. You could recycle it, but that would change nothing about its past. At least now it has real utility. My friend is running for political office. He is soliciting donations personally from friends and has asked me to contribute. I want to support him as a friend, but I don't believe in his platform. If I didn't know him, I wouldn't vote for him. How do I support my friend without supporting policies I don't believe in? If you didn't know your friend, you wouldn't vote for him. But you do know him, so maybe you will. This means one of two things: Either our interpersonal relationships matter more to you than your political views, or you're just now realizing that a person with an opposing ideology could still possess civic value. Either way, you can contribute (or not contribute) for whatever reasons you want. Ultimately, his career and your friendship are not connected; there's no obligation in either direction. If you don't contribute, I would tell the guy what it is about his platform that bothers you the most. But he will probably have a decent idea already, assuming you are authentic friends and have discussed politics in the past.