It’s time once again to remind people of Butler Shaffer’s devastating defense of Scrooge himself.

We are to believe that Bob Cratchit is worth more than Scrooge is paying him. On what grounds? If literally no one else on earth will pay him more, how do we know he’s worth more? And if Cratchit really is worth more to another employer, why is he too pathetic and devoid of ambition to pursue such alternative avenues of employment?

Moreover, if Scrooge is the only person on earth who’s making Cratchit at least slightly better off, why does he bear the entire moral burden here? Why don’t the employers who passed up on Cratchit bear any blame? Is the moral principle that if you pay Cratchit five monetary units you’re a monster, but if you never employ him in the first place, and thus pay him zero, you’re just fine and off the hook?

How about other people in society who, knowing of Cratchit’s plight, do nothing to help? Why are they not lectured and badgered, too?

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