Earlier quoted context omitted.
A pirated copy doesn’t need to equate to a lost sale in order for it to be stealing. You took something of value that was created or owned by someone else. Whether it’s a physical or nonphysical good is completely beside the point.
#this I can't believe people here don't think it's piracy or stealing, just because it doesn't deprive someone else of their object (as in the case of a physical good). If I took your journal entries from your room, and copied them all, and put them on the internet - that's not stealing, because I returned the journal? No, that's still theft. If someone stole bread, how would you feel about It? Screw that person righ…
Yes, the original taking of the journal is literally depriving someone else of their object. A future return of the object clearly does not mean the original deprivation never happened. The point you're making about unauthorized distribution of private thoughts is about violation of privacy. Violating a person's privacy certainly is a bad thing. Theft is a different bad thing. (The analogy you're looking for is copying someone's paywalled blog)
"If someone stole bread, how would you feel about It? Screw that person right? What if they were stealing the bread from someone who would never notice the loss, and it was for their hungry kids? Suddenly it seems more reasonable."
You're trying to move the goalposts by conflating the literal deprivation of objects with copying information that all parties are trying to proliferate. The emotional appeal, besides not being as agreeable as you think, has nothing to do with the issue. A plentiful, though limited resource is just that. (Yes, one of the many reasons theft is bad is because it invariably angers the thieved and violates their sense of justice - the difference in argument is postulating the emotional impact of an action vs instructing the reader to feel a certain emotion).