Submitted by Alex Birch on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 20:32.
And so they finally arrived; the latest legal threats against Swedish file sharing nexus Pirate Bay. The online piracy drama has been on the news consistently throughout the years since the Napster service was first launched in America. Now a collection of record and movie companies, pop artists and various lobby groups are cracking down on possibly the world's largest Bittorrent site and the Swedish authorities don't know how to proceed with the case.
Personally, I couldn't care less about what's going to happen with the Pirate Bay. While I've downloaded music in the past and bought most of the stuff I've found worthy to own in physical form, I'm no fan of this piracy culture. It seems to me that it mostly consists out of bored and uncultivated people who have nothing better to do with their time than to download entertainment. As if the TV wasn't enough, the computer today has become an advanced television with keyboard.
I'm surprised the movie and music industry didn't expect this before they turned these mediums into pure commercial products. People feel no obligation to make millionaire artists and billionaire directors even richer. They sense this is all one huge profit machine and simply want the product, a desire created and sustained by the entertainment industry. And now it claims to be under threat? Give me a break.
When I observe the piracy debate, I see these two camps whine over self-interests. The media industry wants a tight monopoly on everything they produce and the consumers want the right to consume as freely and cheaply as they can. It's like a zoo, where the caretaker brainwashes chimps with bananas and suddenly the chimps go wild and do anything to get their hands on a yellow fruit. I'm not sure our lives will get better if we're allowed to download all the music in the world. Likewise, I don't see the industry contributing with anything of artistic or cultural worth, even if they bring in 30 instead of 20 million dollars on Alien 6 or American Pie 98.
Piracy is a sinking ship. It's an embarrassing remnant of a society that only revolves around financial profits and self-interests. Some people will say it's good to be able to download a CD or a movie before buying it, and I agree with this, but we all know this piracy cult is not really just about "trying out new stuff." Like TV, video games and sex, it's more like a drug to make us endure our passive, boring lives. We're tired of all shit around us and therefore consume entertainment to pass the time for an hour or two. All talk about "new releases," "sequels" and "special cuts" is just bullshit to have something to discuss.
We need to rise above this behaviour. Stop downloading and buying things you don't need. Once you realize that the desire to consume is simply a social costruction to control you, you will slowly break free from this mentality and spend your time on more constructive things. Abandon the sinking consumer ship; soon it lies on the bottom of the sea and at that point, no one could care less about "free culture" and "legal rights." Forget all your rights. You have a responsibility to wake up, trash all entertainment and make something out of your life. Make this into your ethos and watch the world around you crumble into pieces with a smile on your face.
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Society
I have questions for you Matthew. What would define motivation is such a society (i.e. one that considered everyone equal based off their position as human)? Also, What would the ultimate destination of such a society be?
What constitutes a constructive activity?
I don't care about piracy even if Hollywood and the big record companies really do go bankrupt. I prefer not to buy their products because they usually support causes that I am opposed to.
Recorded music and movies are forms of entertainment used during leisure time, and they involve consumption of data, whether obtained legally or illegally.
Here are my questions:
What does it mean to make something of your life?
What is the difference between constructive and non-constructive activities?
What criteria can be applied to determine whether or not an activity contributes artistically or culturally to civilization?
I personally enjoy watching movies occasionally and I listen to a wide variety of music. I'm young, single, and live in a small apartment. My technology consists of a cellular phone, a $250 computer that does everything I want, a cheap TV and a nice 10 year old car in excellent condition. My last computer lasted me 10 years. I wear normal, non-flamboyant looking clothes. I am self-employed and make enough money. I run several times a week and ride a bike for transportation when the weather is nice and the trip isn't extremely long.
In my leisure time I enjoy fishing, eating good food with family and friends, drinking beer or whiskey while listening to music and conversing with friends, and shooting my handguns at the range. I even like watching TV and eating junk food sometimes.
I don't think I'm contributing a whole lot to society and don't feel an obligation to strain myself to do more, but my life sure isn't as bleak as what is portrayed as common on this site, and I don't have any relatives or friends who seem to be that obsessed with consumerism.
I do realize that many people are living an apathetic lonely existence, and living purely for self-gratification, and end up dependent on psychiatric drugs, alcohol, TV, pornography, or street drugs to cope with a meaningless existence. I think a lot of it comes from the atomized living situation found throughout suburbia, and being disconnected with meeting basic needs like food and shelter. All that is abstracted away in our modern economy. Maybe simple things like getting a fixer upper home and actually working on a living space, or growing some food in a garden or a few potted vegetable plants would help a lot of people. I think for these people, the biggest problem is not understanding what their basic human needs are and that their problems aren't about genuine self-gratification, but about trying to gratify themselves in a way that doesn't work. People need satisfying companionship, manageable work activities that don't overwhelm with worry, good food, fresh air, entertaining recreation, and clean, comfortable living spaces. These good things are within reach for many in our society, they are just not imposed upon people or guaranteed to them in any way. Of course many under the age of 18 are genuinely forced to live a mentally torturous existence in non-educational public schools that strongly encourage them to continue along a path that does not automatically lead to meeting their basic human needs. At the same time their parents who either got through the system undamaged (and so do not understand how awful it really is) or went along mechanically and hit the middle class professional jackpot (and are likely depressed, angry, hypertensive, self-centered, image obsessed consumerists) also encourage the path toward the hallowed ground of middle class "prosperity." So the cycle continues.
I believe one small, but perhaps biologically impossible, change is necessary to remedy the worst symptoms of the situation, and that is to completely overhaul society's way of assessing people based on their wealth, advanced degrees, athletic ability or anything else. In other words, taking the idea that all humans are all just as good and legitimate despite their inequalities in ability, achievement, or wealth. Maybe a massive propaganda campaign would work. Probably not though.
Ok, enough ranting for now. Back to my not so bleak life.
Equality?
Let's say that it is possible to "overhaul society's way of assessing people----" and imagine a nice world of equality, what remains as an incentive to actually get out of bed--even to get a beer? Nothing in the natural world is equal. Where equality actually does exist, evolutionary change is either very slow or nonexistent. Much of what most of us find frustrating in this society relates to efforts to eliminate diversity whether in thought or deed. Communism was a theoretical experiment to produce equality by force. It was an abysmal failure wherever tried. Much of what now passes as PC propaganda in the U.S. also falls into the category of bioegalitarianism--sort of chocolate coated communism. Is it any wonder that most institutions including virtually all religions seem to operate on made up rules, helter skelter, without much regard for the laws of nature? After living through 9 decades (I sort of cheated on the first one with only a year), I have come to believe that unless someone is actually paying my bills they have no right to tell me what is right and wrong, what to eat and drink, or what to do. WWO
It's the kids
It's because too many kids these days are too lazy to work, to be able to buy the stuff in the first place and they have to scrape what they can from the bottom of the Free Barrel.
Not to mention that they don't have nor do they seek meaning in their lives, it's just like drugs. Download the new album, movie, or whatever to get their next dosage of procrastination.
Ashamed to be a kid
I almost feel ashamed to be an adolescent these days. It seems that 99% of the kids in my age group are horny porn watchers who do nothing but listen to their gangsta-rap and watch movies all day. Friday and saturday night is the night they go out, but is that usefull? Going out just means going to some disco and humping 15 year old girls with blonde dyed hair, short skirts and shirts with cleavage that almost show their belly buttons. And of course they don't have a job, because mommy and daddy will give them money to buy clothes and drinks. Who needs CD's? The internet grants you everything for free!
While I'll admit I have a lot of downloaded music when I was 13, I have now changed my mind and only download CDs really worth it, or ones that aren't for sale anymore.
When I turned 15, I got a job as quick as I could. I started making money for myself, so that if I wanted anything, I wouldn't have to download it or ask mommy for money. Plus, a heavy job like mine is good for my health and body development, not to mention the 10km ride there every saturday.
CORRUPT should really reach more kids, make them change their minds while they will still listen, and get them off their Britney Spears and MTV infested asses!
Indeed,
It seems that way because they ARE. I don't know about where you live, but in my city those people make up about 90% of the adolescent poulation. It might just be because I never really have had much money, But I see nothing wrong with free stuff every now and then. However, I do find it much more practical to buy used cd's than I do piracy, I'm also
one to get disgusted with the whole "scene" of it.
I do get sick of spoiled brats who take unnesecary advantage of this.
Ego gratification
Gratification of the ego is what the internet seems to be about these days. It's no longer the communication tool it used to be, as a hub of idea and information exchange.
With user-editable profiles, people can verbally fellate one another with mindless comment exchange (i.e., "PC4PC <3") and gain other unwarranted attention from a computer screen that they might not receive in reality.
Then these people wonder why they get trolled and why people would want to destroy their e-reality. It's just a hunch of mine, but it might just be that they're getting "cyberbullied" because their charade is pathetic, and even they fail to see that.
I also need to add that the Pirate Bay is as much a hub of ego gratification as any old forum. The people who provide the movies and music make themselves feel better by providing the torrents.
Private torrent trackers are much worse than the Pirate Bay however, because they are a private club of users, selected by invitation, who attempt to keep their "seed ratio" up, and the users who provide the most free products and have the highest data upload rate are ostensibly superior than everyone else.