On High-Sea Imperialism and underapreciated freedom-fighters.

piratesemperors.jpg Pirates and Emperors, an amazing animated film about the mystifying nightmare that is US foreign policy, set to the beat of those catchy old “School House Rock” edu-toons (remember: “I’m just a bill!” ?)

Seriously it’s super fun. Also, it points to something I’ve been dealing with lately, namely that pirates aren’t nearly as cool as people make them out to be. Why the hell does everyone love pirates so much, they’re just thugs and rapists. Not unlike the mythically defined USA, the image everybody seems to hold of them is so distracted from their real essence that it completely obscures what’s actually going on.

I mean, why can’t the hackers get any love?

(linked by BB)

sonypod.jpgAlso, while I’m already lifting content from boingboing, quoth Cory Doctorow concerning Sony’s attempt to shut down a ligitimate piece of entrepreneurial irony (or physical hackery depending on how you look at it) :

“From defending consumer rights in the Supreme Court in the 1984 Betamax case to this in 20 years: what a pack of sellout assholes. Hey, fuck you too, Sony.”

(emphasis mine. link to BoingBoing article)

2 Replies to “On High-Sea Imperialism and underapreciated freedom-fighters.”

  1. You fool! Piratesare awsome. They aren’t just thugs and rapists. Some of them are but what a pirate really is,is a man who loves his freedom.Sailing around the world not tied down to anything. no miserablejob. yes they do steal but sailing around and getting drunk doesn’t buy your food y’know. I agree it may not be responsible but thats the whole point. I wish I could be a pirate. Unfortunatly Derek pointed out that being the only girl pirate on a ship in the middle of the ocean with 20 or more men might just be an invitation for none-stop raping. Would anyone like to join me on a rape free pirate ship? The first volunteer gets to be 1st mate.

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