If you don' t want to hear a rant, please do NOT read this thread. With that being said...

What' s up with people viewing movies illegaly nowadays? I just don' t get it! I have an extensive dvd collection, and my girlfriend and I go to the theater at least a couple of times a month. Then I hear (read) about all these people who download movies from the internet or copy movies when they rent them. To me, it' s sickening! I mean, yeah, it drives up prices, and, yeah, it causes the government and mpaa to get all copyright happy (which sucks) but that' s not what really bothers me. What' s really disturbing is that a lot of people who do this are normally very upstanding citizens. Parents. People with good jobs.

Then they rationalize it. " Oh, they shouldn' t charge that much anyway!" " Oh, they' re just greedy!" Cmon! If someone says, " I' m a thieving bastard, and just don' t want to pay" I can deal with that. At least they' re honest about their miscreant behavior. Just say it! " I' m a CHEAP THIEVING BASTARD!" Is that so hard?

How can people justify stealing, is what I' m saying. If you don' t think a dvd should cost $19.99, you don' t just go in and shoplift it (well, some do, but I' m sure nobody HERE does that! Right guys?) What makes downloading it any different? I' ll tell you what I think it is; safety. People feel safe, and anonymous on the internet. They can be as mean (flammers), nasty (child porn) or as corrupt (illegal movies) as they want, without fear of reproach.

The funny part is, the same people who do this are the ones who are going to bitch and complain the most when the copyright folks and tech industry get together and make it so you can' t watch a pure digital source of their HD tv. Then they complaing about the cost of movies in a theater! The NERVE! You' re a contributor to the problem, F***face! Get a clue.

Thanks for listening. Thoughts?