Thursday, July 24, 2014

Does Singapore Willfully Harbor Pirates?

An alarming headline regarding youth piracy in Singapore.  My mind went to images of Singaporean youth on Zodiacs with AK 47s violently boarding Straights Shipping to kill, plunder and occasionally rape.  Has Singapore become a failed state? Turns out the article is about kids not giving Americans money before watching something on their computers.
Some places have it worse than others, and authorities in Singapore are realizing just how much of a fight they have on their hands.  Specifically, youth piracy is a major concern in this small Asian country with a big trade in illegal content. And could what’s happening in Singapore be a sign of things to come elsewhere?
I wonder why people call kids watching something on a computer "piracy?'  I wonder why they claim Singapore is a haven for pirates.  Why not just speak accurately?  Are Americans no longer able to speak accurately?   And this is no small thing... when the USA begins to agitate against a country, especially USA lawyers, eventually USA attacks that country.  See Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and countless others.  If Singaporean officials do not respond vigorously now, it will be on them when soon enough Singapore looks like Gaza.  As Thoreau noted, in USA it takes extremely few people to begin a war.

Someone is paying to get that content in front of those kids.  Someone is making money off that.  Why don't the Concerned Americans with their litany of fears do so?  It is just a matter of making as much effort as those who presently make money off the practice.  Why do Americans refuse to work for money?

In USA our legal profession makes the odd claim that Americans can get rich without any effort.  It is merely a matter of having lawyers write laws that say... umm...  "Singaporean kids must give Americans money if they log on their computer and find something interesting."  Since lawyers are government workers, and in a conflict of interest work all the legislative, judiciary and executive branches, they can mulct taxpayers to pay for "enforcement" of rules that benefit only the favored.  Why don't the favored pay for "enforcement" itself (assuming the favored are obstinate in their refusal to actually work at marketing their products.)

There is an Apple iTunes ad on the website that is calling Singapore a failed state, Singaporean youth pirates, and generally blood libelling Singapore.  This is funny, since while these same lawyers were destroying the lives of 12 year old girls for downloading music in USA a decade ago, Steve Jobs showed how to make money for artists with zero intellectual property rights recourse.   He invented iTunes, proving intellectual property rights are unnecessary.

Now, certainly there was an army of lawyers writing things, driving to work, having sushi lunches, and billing, but Jobs knows these people must be paid or, as government workers, will bring violence on Apple computer.  So go along to get along.  We call it capitalism.

Singapore is a free market, and antithetical to capitalism.

I am glad to learn Singaporean youth are not pirates, and I could care less if someone else makes money off offering content to Singaporean youth when the USA creators refuse to do so.  Singaporean youth are to be commended for not being influenced by rent-seeking USA imperialism.  They are a tribute to the Singaporean educational system.  All hail Singaporean youth, a model for youth worldwide!

Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.


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