Progressive Loss of Morality
May. 26th, 2004 09:35 pmSo, you know how there's this battle going on in the US right now between concerned/overzealous parents/Republicans and the music/video game industry over offensive lyrics/content and whether or not it warps the minds of small children? Anyway, the parents and/or Republicans have a point because I *never* used to curse before I listened to angry music, and now I do, reflexively, and then say "what?" when I get funny looks for it.
Yeah, I'm not sure where I'm going with this either, except to say that probably pop culture does cause slightly anti-social behavior, but so what? Life warps the minds of small children, but most of us manage just fine anyway. The British take a much more tolerant attitude toward this kind of thing, I think - they expect that most people will break the law, rudely, and then lie on their tax returns afterwards.
To get back on track, my point here is that doing illegal things online is sort of like listening to music where they curse a lot - you might think it won't affect you, but it does. For example, first I downloaded legally, then illegally but only unlicensed things, and now I have Bleach! Ah, I adore this series, and I thought I'd have to wait for it to come in English when it was licensed... I tell myself that I'll still buy the official release and that, therefore, my illegal downloading-ness hurts no one (except for the scanlation groups whose bandwidth I'm using), but the truth is that I probably won't. Well, maybe just the first volume, because it is so stylish.
Yeah, I'm not sure where I'm going with this either, except to say that probably pop culture does cause slightly anti-social behavior, but so what? Life warps the minds of small children, but most of us manage just fine anyway. The British take a much more tolerant attitude toward this kind of thing, I think - they expect that most people will break the law, rudely, and then lie on their tax returns afterwards.
To get back on track, my point here is that doing illegal things online is sort of like listening to music where they curse a lot - you might think it won't affect you, but it does. For example, first I downloaded legally, then illegally but only unlicensed things, and now I have Bleach! Ah, I adore this series, and I thought I'd have to wait for it to come in English when it was licensed... I tell myself that I'll still buy the official release and that, therefore, my illegal downloading-ness hurts no one (except for the scanlation groups whose bandwidth I'm using), but the truth is that I probably won't. Well, maybe just the first volume, because it is so stylish.
