Is a leather couch immoral?
about the morality of purchasing a leather couch. Not because of the cows involved, just the money. Crapples held that buying a leather couch was immoral. You can get something that functions just fine as a couch for far cheaper (even for nothing if you're not picky). My thinking was that as long as you can afford the couch, there's nothing wrong with greasing the wheels of capitalism and keeping the fine folks at R.C. Willey and Natuzzi employed. We give a certain amount to charity every month, pretty much regardless of what our other expenditures are. But, I won't give more because I chose not to buy something. Is that immoral? Is it more moral to give money away than let a business earn it?
It is an interesting question. Because at some point, I think it's obscene to spend X amount of dollars on a single item. Like, say, $800 for purse - one of my friends is into Louis Vuitton bags and regularly spends $500-$1,000 dollars on purses and bags. I would never do that. Is it immoral? I dunno. Before I throw my money away on a prestige item to sling over my shoulder I'd.. well, I'd probably just keep it in savings. But, I have no problem with someone spending a couple thousand dollars (or more) on a great trip. Is one intrinsically a more moral purchase than the other? I don't think so. I just value travel more than handbags.
It seems like that mythical obscene amount of money is always something more than what I earn or what I've saved. The grass is less green or in need of more care on the other side.
By the way, we bought these couches during a Memorial Day sale. My girls don't know we bought them yet (they'll be shocked - we've been sofa-hunting for months and they are convinced we'll never do anything more than look). This is the second set of couches we've bought since we were married. I like them and I don't feel guilty about them. Should I?
