What point did you make? It was a stream of conscious post that contained several straw men. There is no "argument"...he stole the crab. Getting the hook-up is stealing. Obviously, there are degrees of theft. Peter Warrick's theft was substantially worse than Winston. But it is all theft. To posit that a lot of people on this board and at FSU that get discounts is a straw man.
My opinion was that Winston needs to have more self awareness. It is clear that he does not. Stealing the crab was adjudicated, settled and done. Harbaugh's leading question was a softball that Winston could have fielded as "yes, it was wrong to do what I did." He admission that it was a free benefit from Publix now leads to more scrutiny for the program. It also leads to more scrutiny for him, as in, you lied about such a small thing like stealing crabs....why should we believe you are telling the truth about raping this girl.
My comment about his father originates from his father's statements after the crab-theft incident where he inferred that FSU was partially/majority at fault for his son stealing the crab because FSU did not provide his son a chaperon at all times to keep him out of trouble.
As for you comments about his father, I didn't read them, but I think it is stupid to say anyone should have a handler to keep them from doing stupid things. As for Winston opening this can of worms, I totally agree he should have just let it die. If that is your main point, we agree. He took the hit already and should have just let it be.
As for the rest, I'll simplify for you since you seem to be unable to decipher my "stream of consciousness" - You, unless you are the second coming of Christ (or had no friends in college), probably engaged in similar behavior (a free drink, free admission to a cover charge bar, etc..) and you are a hypocrite. You, and others like you, are either intentionally lying or delusional about how common this sort of thing is in college towns. Why does it matter? It matters because there are behaviors everyone engages in that are accepted norms and therefore less reprehensible than you and others like you make them out to be.
Is stealing wrong? You bet. In every case? No, I can come up with numerous scenarios where stealing would not only be permissible but a moral imperative. No, not all theft is equal and sometimes, apparent theft is not even theft, but instead a case of mistaken understanding of someone's authority. You assume arguendo that JW was in fact guilty of theft because he was willing to go the mea culpa route with the authorities when they approached him. You assume Winston knew the person who gave him the hook up did not have the authority to do so. Is it conceivable that he thought she had the apparent authority to give him the hook up with management approval? Nah - not for the haters. They cannot conceive of any scenario in which Winston is anything but the villain who went mission impossible to get away the staggering $32 of crab legs. Is it more likely that (A) he knew the person did not have the manager's or store's approval to give him the crab legs? Yep. But, is it conceivable that (B) he thought they had the go ahead from someone who had actual authority to comp the food? Yep. How many times do you think he was at a restaurant and the owner simply said, "Jameis, this is our treat. We appreciate everything you have done for FSU and Tallahassee." By the way, accepting such gestures will be labeled by the media as "ENTITLED" rather than politeness.
People have gotten into the habit of seeing the worst in him so A is really the fallback position they'll go to after they let go of the idea that he shoplifted. Accepting stolen property is a better fit for those inclined to fit him into the role they have cast for him.
