[otterley]

No, I'm not going to do that. And here's why: because if you have an excuse, everyone has an excuse. And if everyone has an excuse, the entire system falls apart.

I'll reiterate what I said above: entertainment and software are not life's essentials. Nobody's going to be seriously harmed by being denied access to them.

[squigz]

> Nobody's going to be seriously harmed by being denied access to them.

Nobody's going to be seriously harmed by us pirating them, either.

On the other hand, I bet there have been some pretty serious repercussions due to the sweeping bans like in TFA.

[otterley]

> Nobody's going to be seriously harmed by us pirating them, either.

The logic here is quite simple: if you don't have to pay, nobody else has to pay, either, because you're not special. If nobody pays, then people who make media and software won't get paid, and production will slow to a crawl. You'll have destroyed the very thing you seem to desire enough to steal.

How does this not make sense to you?

[squigz]

Maybe because I'm not so arrogant as to imply everyone has to have the same views and act the same way as me, nor to imply that my view is the only right one.

But nah, you're right. Nobody has to pay. Everybody should pirate.

Now, that's been true for decades, of course. So why hasn't the entire system fallen apart?

[otterley]

> I'm not so arrogant

Believing oneself to be special and above the law such that one feels justified in trampling on others' rights is textbook arrogance.

[squigz]

Not everyone in the world is subject to the same laws.

To say nothing of what all that means when those laws are unjust and themselves serve to trample on individuals' rights.

[otterley]

> Not everyone in the world is subject to the same laws.

Are you?

> To say nothing of what all that means when those laws are unjust and themselves serve to trample on individuals' rights.

What rights are you speaking of, exactly?