The morality of piracy

In 9th grade I got in a fight for hogging the Asteroids machine and broke my hand on the other kid's head. Because I couldn't take notes with my broken writing hand, the school gave me a comically-huge tape recorder with "TOWN HIGH SCHOOL PROPERTY" written in Sharpie on it.

The local FM rock station had a "Thursday Midnight Album Hour" when they played an entire, new-release album without interruptions. I defied my parents, stayed up late, connected the school-issued device to my receiver, and recorded the new, just-released AC/DC album.

On the bus the next morning, I popped in the TDK-SA90 cassette loaded with pirated content, and tentatively pressed Play. The opening chords of "Hells Bells" came out of the shitty speaker on the school-issued player. Bus driver gave me a smile in the mirror.

"HEY! That's the new AC/DC!" "Come back here!" "Turn it up!"

For a couple weeks while my left metacarpal healed, me and my school-authorized "boom box" were welcomed by the cool kids into the back of the bus (it didn't last).

No guilt for me -- I've bought physical copies of "Back in Black" multiple times since then.
 
Shaquilleoatmeal said:
how are you “stealing” from him? How is he entitled in a moral sense?
Click to expand...
As the creator of the product he is entitled to receive his profit if you consume his product. If you consume his product without paying for it then you are stealing from him by withholding the profit he is entitled to.

You are in essence the guy who goes into the grocery store and eats food on the shelves and leaves without paying for it. Post-hoc rationalizations and all.
 
Shaquilleoatmeal said:
Where in the Bible does it state this?
Click to expand...
Many places.

Here's one in Proverbs 11:1: A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.

Another in 1 Timothy 5:18: For the Scripture saith, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his reward.”

Romans 13:5: Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of that wrath, but also because of conscience. 6For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves a
his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Your turn. Where does it say you can break the law, withhold revenue from the one it is due, and try to justify it after the fact?
 
Shaquilleoatmeal said:
Terrible analogy because eating food reduces the inventory of food available.
Click to expand...
Back in the day before the internet when media came in the form of newspapers, magazines, paper books, LP records and tapes, was it moral to take these without paying? The cost of the media was trivial and they could print as many as they wanted for almost nothing. The price was primarily the cost of the intellectual property, which should be free. Taking one didn't really reduce the inventory.

Artists shouldn't be able to make money by selling copies of their work, right? Or maybe it would be alright if they got all the money, but publishers, distributors and retail outlets shouldn't get paid at all. They're all bad people so they shouldn't get paid for providing legit products that people want.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
Another in 1 Timothy 5:18: For the Scripture saith, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his reward.”
Click to expand...
Ok, this is a fair point. I concede.
Thomas More said:
Back in the day before the internet when media came in the form of newspapers, magazines, paper books, LP records and tapes, was it moral to take these without paying? The cost of the media was trivial and they could print as many as they wanted for almost nothing. The price was primarily the cost of the intellectual property, which should be free. Taking one didn't really reduce the inventory.

Artists shouldn't be able to make money by selling copies of their work, right? Or maybe it would be alright if they got all the money, but publishers, distributors and retail outlets shouldn't get paid at all. They're all bad people so they shouldn't get paid for providing legit products that people want.
Click to expand...
The providers are still laboring so those deserve some compensation.
 
Shaquilleoatmeal said:
That’s what makes stealing wrong, it reduces what someone else has.
Click to expand...
It depends on who you're "stealing" from... If one is "reclaiming" the ill-gotten gains of an over-taxing (((government))), or a pedophile, or an Antichrist jew who received "their" so-called riches from the production of globohomo pornography, violent filth (like Quentin Tarrantino), plandemic price gauging, artificial rent spikes (due to jew owned Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street buying up America's single family homes), et al, then it is not stealing, it is fighting back through a process of righteous reclamation.

The legend of Robin Hood is a centuries old product of the human psyche in the battle between good and evil. And so who decides what is stealing and what is righteous reclamation? I do. I decide. I think for myself. I look at someone and say, "In my judgment, this person (or business) is a thief and deserves to have stolen from them that which they have not earned."

With regards to art and artists being paid... What I see is a world with too much art and artists getting overpaid (i.e. they have been overcompensated for subpar work and therefore did not justly earn "their" riches). They produce nothing even slightly comparable to the work of Van Gogh (who died penniless) or works like the Sistine Chapel. Instead you have "artists" like Banksy becoming multimillionaires for literally producing disposable garbage and actors getting paid 20 million dollars for 8 weeks of "work." F*ck that sh*t. We dont need more musicians, and actors, and filmmakers, and painters, we need more doctors. Heart surgeons should be paid more than teenage jew actors in the newest over-sexualized Judd Apatow globohomo soft core porn psyop. This is a matter of justice. And until then, may all artists go bankrupt and have all their sh*t "stolen." Whip out another Ghiberti's Gates Of Paradise or Beethoven's 5th Symphony and maybe I'll change my mind on that front, but Coldplay deserves to go bankrupt.
 
PurpleUrkel said:
With regards to art and artists being paid... What I see is a world with too much art and artists getting overpaid (i.e. they have been overcompensated for subpar work and therefore did not justly earn "their" riches). They produce nothing even slightly comparable to the work of Van Gogh (who died penniless) or works like the Sistine Chapel. Instead you have "artists" like Banksy becoming multimillionaires for literally producing disposable garbage and actors getting paid 20 million dollars for 8 weeks of "work." F*ck that sh*t. We dont need more musicians, and actors, and filmmakers, and painters, we need more doctors. Heart surgeons should be paid more than teenage jew actors in the newest over-sexualized Judd Apatow globohomo soft core porn psyop. This is a matter of justice. And until then, may all artists go bankrupt and have all their sh*t "stolen." Whip out another Ghiberti's Gates Of Paradise or Beethoven's 5th Symphony and maybe I'll change my mind on that front, but Coldplay deserves to go bankrupt.
Click to expand...
Take anything you want from any artist whose work you like! Metallica is getting more money than they deserve. Deus Vult! Right?
 
PurpleUrkel said:
It depends on who you're "stealing" from... If one is "reclaiming" the ill-gotten gains of an over-taxing (((government))), or a pedophile, or an Antichrist jew who received "their" so-called riches from the production of globohomo pornography, violent filth (like Quentin Tarrantino), plandemic price gauging, artificial rent spikes (due to jew owned Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street buying up America's single family homes), et al, then it is not stealing, it is fighting back through a process of righteous reclamation.

The legend of Robin Hood is a centuries old product of the human psyche in the battle between good and evil. And so who decides what is stealing and what is righteous reclamation? I do. I decide. I think for myself. I look at someone and say, "In my judgment, this person (or business) is a thief and deserves to have stolen from them that which they have not earned."

With regards to art and artists being paid... What I see is a world with too much art and artists getting overpaid (i.e. they have been overcompensated for subpar work and therefore did not justly earn "their" riches). They produce nothing even slightly comparable to the work of Van Gogh (who died penniless) or works like the Sistine Chapel. Instead you have "artists" like Banksy becoming multimillionaires for literally producing disposable garbage and actors getting paid 20 million dollars for 8 weeks of "work." F*ck that sh*t. We dont need more musicians, and actors, and filmmakers, and painters, we need more doctors. Heart surgeons should be paid more than teenage jew actors in the newest over-sexualized Judd Apatow globohomo soft core porn psyop. This is a matter of justice. And until then, may all artists go bankrupt and have all their sh*t "stolen." Whip out another Ghiberti's Gates Of Paradise or Beethoven's 5th Symphony and maybe I'll change my mind on that front, but Coldplay deserves to go bankrupt.
Click to expand...
The hypocrisy in stealing things that you don't think anyone should listen to or watch is hilarious.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
You are in essence the guy who goes into the grocery store and eats food on the shelves and leaves without paying for it.
Click to expand...
As he said, volume or inventory loss does matter because it's literally not there.
Thomas More said:
Taking one didn't really reduce the inventory.
Click to expand...
Yes it did, the inventory was local, it reduced it immediately on the spot.
GodfatherPartTwo said:
in stealing things
Click to expand...
that still hasn't been adjudicated, at least you haven't convinced him yet
 
There really isn't a moral or ethical justification for piracy, because at the end of the day, you are enjoying the fruit of someone else's labor without paying for it. It's really that simple. It may seem like a victimless crime, similar to shoplifting from major retail store, or committing insurance fraud, but as in each of those cases, the losses actually end up being socialized and distributed throughout society. In the case of shoplifting, the result is everyone paying slightly higher prices. For insurance fraud, we get higher insurance premiums. In the case of piracy, not only do we get higher media prices, but even worse, we get a gradual reduction in the quality of media produced. No one works for free, and no one who has actually exercised the considerable effort and discipline required to produce a worthy piece of creative output could possibly justify piracy.
 
scorpion said:
It may seem like a victimless crime, similar to shoplifting from major retail store, or committing insurance fraud, but as in each of those cases, the losses actually end up being socialized and distributed throughout society. In the case of shoplifting, the result is everyone paying slightly higher prices.
Click to expand...
There is on old saying "whoever is kind to the cruel is cruel to the kind." The retail corporations figured out that they don't have to take the loss on shoplifting and instead can pass that loss off on to honest paying customers and get their payback from the insurance companies anyway. Meanwhile, the shoplifters are given free reign to all the groceries they want.
 
scorpion said:
There really isn't a moral or ethical justification for piracy, because at the end of the day, you are enjoying the fruit of someone else's labor without paying for it. It's really that simple. It may seem like a victimless crime, similar to shoplifting from major retail store, or committing insurance fraud, but as in each of those cases, the losses actually end up being socialized and distributed throughout society. In the case of shoplifting, the result is everyone paying slightly higher prices. For insurance fraud, we get higher insurance premiums. In the case of piracy, not only do we get higher media prices, but even worse, we get a gradual reduction in the quality of media produced. No one works for free, and no one who has actually exercised the considerable effort and discipline required to produce a worthy piece of creative output could possibly justify piracy.
Click to expand...
Short answer is what I said earlier. God himself sees it as sneaky which he then gets mad at. It’s bad because God isn’t a fan of it. Just like masturbating. Masturbating does not hurt others but God does not like it.
 
Northern Pilgrim said:
Is changing radio stations during ads or using an adblocker while steaming music via youtube piracy?

I think we need to define the terms more clearly or this discussion is just going to end up going in circles...
Click to expand...
See what I said above:
Shaquilleoatmeal said:
Short answer is what I said earlier. God himself sees it as sneaky which he then gets mad at. It’s bad because God isn’t a fan of it. Just like masturbating. Masturbating does not hurt others but God does not like it.
Click to expand...
Using an adblocker indeed deprives the artist of revenue, but I think God is fine with it because we pay money for it. God doesn’t like people benefiting from shortcuts, like masturbation.
 
scorpion said:
There really isn't a moral or ethical justification for piracy, because at the end of the day, you are enjoying the fruit of someone else's labor without paying for it. It's really that simple. It may seem like a victimless crime, similar to shoplifting from major retail store, or committing insurance fraud, but as in each of those cases, the losses actually end up being socialized and distributed throughout society. In the case of shoplifting, the result is everyone paying slightly higher prices. For insurance fraud, we get higher insurance premiums. In the case of piracy, not only do we get higher media prices, but even worse, we get a gradual reduction in the quality of media produced. No one works for free, and no one who has actually exercised the considerable effort and discipline required to produce a worthy piece of creative output could possibly justify piracy.
Click to expand...
Maddox

Thread 'Music Artists Casting Spells On Their Listeners'

Interesting video. What surprised me is that some of these "artists" are actually admitting to it.

  • Like
  • Disgusting
  • Sodom


@Maddox thoughts. Is modern music produced via demons? If a human produces music via demons, is that human entitled to “their reward”, or is there no justification for entitlement?

Or does God not care because it’s a shortcut?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top