|
There's a romance about pirates, being a pirate, living "according to your own rules...or none at all", and on and on. I love old movies, too, and Jimmy Buffett, and I was once the "rebel without a clue", and I understand all that, plus the "something for nothing" mentality, and sticking it to the man, ad nauseum.
But when you come down to it, there's nothing to pirate without those boring old fuddy-duddies who learn a craft, work at it diligently, and market their work to a public that's willing to pay something for it.
Pirates are parasites. Okay, they've been around forever, they'll be around forever, they have a certain mystique about them, but they aren't the ones who make the work they pirate possible.
Each of us can decide, on a book by book basis, whether we want to encourage and contribute...or suck off other people's contributions.
Am I perfect? Hell, no. If someone loans me a CD, it may end up on my iTunes. I may then seek out more of that artist's work...or I may not.
But we should all have a notion in our heads about what we're doing. It shouldn't depend on the probability of getting caught and it shouldn't be a kneejerk action. We should think about it and make a decision. If we do that, we'll be all right, I think.
|