[chrisbennet]

IMO, piracy is theft. The way I was raised, taking something that isn't yours without permission is stealing. If you feel bad thinkng of yourself as a thief, you come up with rationalizations as to why stealing is OK. Here are some popular ones:

"That store is overcharging/doing something bad/is a big corporation so they deserve to have their stuff stolen."

"They are using the wrong word (pirate) to describe my stealing so even though I'm still stealing and I know what they mean by that word, since I'm not doing what they say I'm doing I'm not (technically) a pirate.

"I think what they are selling should be free so it is alright for me to steal it."