We need not find that perfection in our-selves. Yes, we should admit to our

hipocrisy and try to be better persons. But if you want sainthood from mere

mortals then you are barking up the wrong tree.

We can fail in our fight against perfection, but not have to allow

desecrations of others that make our faults pale in comparison.

To accept the sacrilege of the Illuminati because we transgressed in

a way that hurts someone else brings us to different levels of Dante's

circles of hell.

If we await the impossible , then we let the Illuminati win!

Be as imperfect as we seem, still we must not be afflicted by

self-hatred and paroxysms of dormancy. The enemy does not

give brownie points for our desuetude. They just continue to devour

the sheeple as if we were a nosh for their cravings.

Wolfie has flirted with sin and yet has endured with his tail held high by

advocating love and trying to protect his fellow creatures.

by Wolfie (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 33 diaries, 1208 comments) on Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 12:57:41 PM

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 Is stealing from the poor and ignorant—worse than copying (stealing) music, movies, games, and software?”

Isn’t a limb a part of the same tree?

A limb is less than a tree though part of it.

We need the rule of law. We need confidence that it applies to all. But we have a US President that tortures and launches aggressive invasions and a system full of agents that won't breath life into the law.  Compared to torture and the supreme war crime what can smaller wrongs matter. Everything downstream is corrupted.

The tree is more important than the limb. The rule of law and the prohibitions against torture and aggressive invasion must be upheld or we live in a world knowing that it is corrupt.

Our lowest common denominators are now elected to the highest human offices.  We humans have put terrorists into the Presidency.

With the rule of law and confidence in the rule of law we have to start with the big stuff because the big stuff is the only thing that matters to all of us.

Murder is more important than theft. Aggressive invasion is worse than murder.  In a world of torturing Presidents why would a person bother obeying lesser laws?  From what well would they draw the conclusion that others deserve better?

by Brett Paatsch (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 23 diaries, 1308 comments) on Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 11:11:45 PM

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There is an essential difference between copying and stealing that is being ignored by one side of the p2p debate.

It's the element of deprivation. If you have something and I steal it from you, after the theft, you don't have it.

If you have something and I copy it, after it's copied, you still have it.

In the distant past somebody invented the first wheel. Were the people who observed the usefulness of that first wheel and built some for themselves thieves?

Most societies advance by sharing information.

Is it "stealing" to repeat a joke you tell me?

It's just not logical to claim that copying and stealing are the same. Perhaps one can claim that copying is analogous to stealing. But we all know the fallacy of arguing by analogy, don't we?

Many people also cherish the concept of "Freedom of Information."

by John Haigh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 118 comments) on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 4:38:02 AM

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Jason, you are siding with the MPAA and RIAA, two of the most corrupt organizations in the US today. Organizations that sue innocent people because their grandchild downloaded songs from the internet on their computer. And I would like to add that I, like millions of Americans, have no illegally copied music or movies, I have a collection of CDs and DVDs purchased from the store. So your claim that all humans are cheats doesn’t play out in “the real world”, as you put it.

Finally, comparing kids downloading songs, which only hurts rich music and movie executives, to politicians sending young people to die in a war based on lies, is a tragic mis-assessment on your part.

I wish you had this much passion about the lying politicians you speak of.

by John R Moffett (89 articles, 18 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 697 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 5:32:40 AM

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In reading this article I was struck by the similarity of this topic with another form of theft that has been common throughout history and that is what is euphemistically termed tax evasion.  The similarity is in the thought process of the thief, which probably involves the notion that, this is not really hurting anyone, or perhaps, they don't deserve my money or support.  Into the mix is also the thought, everyone else does this, would I be a fool to stay honest? 

Another similarity is that the laws in both cases are complex and it is so common to encounter gray areas where it is not clear what the law actually demands.  Once you have ruled in your own favor in one instance, it is easy to make a more liberal interpretation the next time, and it is an easy ride down the slippery slope. 

by PrMaine (13 articles, 13 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 511 comments [22 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 7:24:51 AM

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...aint you hip to "open source economics?" 

by waldopaper (15 articles, 3 quicklinks, 34 diaries, 609 comments [84 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 7:52:33 AM

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That is all there is and all there ever will be.  However, there are little crooks and big crooks.

by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1763 comments [39 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 8:06:13 AM

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I really don't give a damn if people want to download or copy music, movies, games, and software illegally. No one is harmed by any of these activities. Price gouging and price fixing is theft.

by Ty (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 888 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 10:30:32 AM

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You should care because its in your interest to have a world in which contracts between free agents are honored.

Without contracts being honored the opportunity to trade work product decreases dramatically.

Jason Greywolf Leigh is more right than wrong. The big contracts matter more than the little ones. Contracts like the UN Charter and the US Constitution matter more than whether you honor an agreement you probably don't bother to read when you rip off someone elses intellectual property. But all contracts require a will by moral agents to enforce them as they are not self enforcing.  

People who steal other peoples work product obviously value it enough to take it but don't respect the author enough to contribute to the authors capacity to produce more of it.  

Unenlightened selfishness pervades.  

by Brett Paatsch (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 23 diaries, 1308 comments) on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 11:04:06 PM

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One - Most of the comments here seem to be ignoring the victom.  Several are arguing that the only parties that affected my illegal download, P2P, copying, filesharing are the 'rich and corrupt media companies'.  Not so.  While it is true that Aerosmith probably won't miss that $13.95 for your ripped version of 'no more' mirrors of which there cut is undobtably less than 2 bucks, but the widow of charles mingus will and does.  So do I for that matter.  The truth is smaller artists are hurt the most by this new 'all music is free' society.  Indeed it makes it that much harder to even get an audience if you have nothing of value to offer.  Same can be said of software.  In 2002 I developed a computer network applience that acuratly predicted download times.  Even though it was far supperior (accurate) than others it was completely ignored and never bought because ripped versions of other companies programs were available for free.  Downloading something that people expect to be paid for - for free - does infact effect others.

Two:  Although I completely believe everything I stated in point number one, the truth is, the gennie is out of the bottle.  It is completly impossible to keep these things from happening.  The internet in many ways, is the next step in the evolution  of man.  A wonder of human achivement.  But between now and when we realize we don't really need money there are going to be victoms of the liars and cheats.

by erik mouse (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 106 comments) on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 2:21:47 PM

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I'd like to thank everyone who posted a 'comment' or a 'reply' to my article.

You have proved by your wise and thoughtful words, that you care. You care enough about us all to make a difference, which is where we all will have to begin if we are to ever make the needed changes to our life, and that of those we know and love.

* I needed a catchy title for this article, and I assure you that this was not my first choice, yet I needed a title that would grab your attention. 

And I am certainly anything but a saint, although I have striven all of my life to be a moral man and an Honrorable Veteran who served his country proud, dispite being in a war that no one approved of, even those of us who were there: Vietnam. 

Although being an Indie songwriter/publisher (BMI) with an album "DIRECTIONS" by 'Greywolf,' (http://cdbaby.com/cd/jgreywolfl) of Folk/Americana music relased and for sale, I can tell you that being a pauper songwriter and having people hack/download my songs is a pill too bitter to swollow. I have NEVER downloaded a song/album or any software or movies without paying for them, for a good, yet simple reason that I wouldn't want that to happen to me, although it has, more often than I can count. 

** Please do forgive me for not replying to each comment, as I haven't learned how to motivate through this website. I am all thumbs when it comes to that part. It is much easier for me to just write . . .

Thank you all once again, and please do remember, that coupled with your comments and the article; only we can make a difference in our lives and that of the stranger knocking at our door . . .  

Jason Greywolf Leigh 

by Jason Greywolf Leigh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1 comments) on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 10:07:51 PM

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