Piracy, a modern phenomenon

"Arrrr!" Bellowed Ned as he plundered his prize. Moving the arrow over the sacred texts, he clicked, and thus his torrent began to download. "4 more hours till I get ta see this movie fer free!"

Not exactly your typical pirate story, and yet this has become the new definition of piracy. With the economy the way it is, or how lazy or selfish the world is, piracy has become a new way of viewing the media that we have been denied the pleasure of viewing, or are just to damn stingy to pay for. I myself have been, in the past, guilty of this crime, but I grew tired of it. Be it movies, tv shows, music, it was usually downloaded from me. My excuse was money. I had none, and therefore could not see many movies in theatres. This was still no excuse, since to be honest, those ads are right: You wouldn't shoplift, you shouldn't download music. I never shoplifted because I had no money, so why do the same thing with the media? Because there's no security in your own home. You assume you're completely alone when you download something, and thus you believe it's okay. Over time, I began to change my outlook on life.

More recently, my thoughts have been more like "Why waste money on a bad film?" I watch a pirated movie, then I watch it in theatres or buy the DVD if it's good. The problem is, I know it's wrong, but I kept doing it, I'd do it, but then I'd actually pay for the movies that I want to watch, like Toy Story 3, or Harry Potter, or any of the Lord of the Rings movies, so I assumed it was okay. I realize now though, that bad movies are half the fun of the draw. You can't expect every movie to be a hit, nor every album, but that's the fun of buying. It's like gambling; You spend money on something, and you can either bust, or you can get rewarded in movie/music gold. I personally have begun to stop pirating, but sometimes I do it, like when I had to get the last episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender because my DVR didn't record it from Nicktoons for me. It's still stealing, I think, but it's about like going to Walmart and watching the movies they have playing on their TVs. You didn't pay for that movie, but you're still watching it. Besides Avatar, I have not downloaded anything in months, though my family keeps insisting that I do. Piracy has outside influences as well as from within it seems, but I ignore them and keep on with life.

I care for only one pirate, and that is the rum guzzling, sword slashing pirates we have in our old tales of the seas. Internet Piracy is not piracy, it is stealing, plain and simple, and I use it as nigh as possible.

Forced Religion

I will be the first to say that I am not a religious man. I'm not an athiest, but I can't really put myself into any typical group. Agnostic is the term I guess. I just don't believe in a single entity being responsible for the whole universe we live in. I do, however, believe in different aspects of life being controlled by some unseen force. How else would the wind blow? How else would trees grow? I suppose I have more of a pagan view of the world, without submitting myself to paganistic rituals.

This whole issue is not what I have a problem with, however, it's the issue of religion, specifically Christianity, or the idea of Jesus Christ, being forced onto us. Look around you; Around your town, city, etc, and tell me how many churches you see. I can count at least 1 to 5 in every town, and that's just my town. Just as well, they build so many because they want to fit the whole town into church every Sunday and Wednesday, and yet not everyone goes. For those who don't go, like myself, they are constantly guilt tripped in an attempt to get them to come to church, and then threatened. Yes, by having someone tell me that I will be cast down into a fiery inferno where I will be tortured for all eternity upon my death is a threat, whether or not you believe it. For not accepting someone else's views, I will be punished. So what do most people do? They come to church, where nothing new is learned from a piece of literature said to have been older than time itself, supposedly over 2000 years old. In fact, even the year we reside in comes from Christianity, as everything before year 1 was Before Christ. I don't like this fact, but I can't do anything to change it. The fact that we live in a Christian founded society is too much for me alone to combat, so we accept it, and coexist with it.

Lately, I have found myself pondering religion even more. I mean, I like that it gives some people hope, helps them develop morals, and helps them become better people, but I do not like how others use it as an excuse. They claim that God would want them do to something, which is overall questionable, and think it's completely fine. They commit sin, knowing all they have to do is pray for forgiveness and wipe the slate clean, making their conscience clean for the next spree of sin. Religion is merely a safety net for many people, and therefore, my faith comes into question. I used to follow the Christian lifestyle, but over time, all the people of the church I attended showed me that nobody there really got what it meant to be a Christian. Even I don't understand, because the bible has given me a mixed view of what it means. I refuse to use a religion as a safety net though, and take responsibility for my own actions, not admit them all to God and Jesus and hope I am forgiven, but you never really know, given that you never get a response.

I call into question America's freedom of religion, and the separation of church and state. I accept this, that there are varied religions in America, and that we are free to worship whomever we please, but church and state are far from separate. Tell me, why does the President have to include "God bless America" in all his speeches? Why do the rumors of Obama being a Muslim strike everyone so hard? True or not, why does it matter? Because we are a country based on Christian fundamentals. Church and state doesn't apply for Christianity. That's why Americans were so upset when one court removed the ten commandments from their lobby, and that's why the only reason same-sex marriage is banned. Religion. Now if someone would please give me a convincing non-religious explanation on why same-sex marriage should be banned, I'd love to hear it, but for now, I've said what I want to say. Please feel free to discuss religion here, and till next time, later!