[Ti] [OT} all this 'anti-piracy' stuff

[mburke6225 at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/3/2003 8:46:50 AM Eastern Standard Time, johnmcd at one.net writes:

> 
> THAT'S what we should be working toward --a solution;

John,

Brace yourself, there may not be a solution.  Only ignorant people steal intellectual property and they've been around a long time.  Think about it.  Leonardo da Vinci was so concerned that his thoughts and inventions would be stolen that he took to writing all his notes in a mirror image making it undecipherable.  Most, if not all, of his codex (notebooks) are written that way.

I compose music.  I can tell you from experience that it is no easy task.  It takes discipline, sweat equity and lastly talent.  Artist’s rights must be protected or art will be lost and all art starts from discipline.

Why bust your butt off to write if people are going to steal it anyway?  My work has been stolen.  It was intellectual rape.  It was vicious and mean spirited.  And it was done by people whose sole philosophy was "why buy it when you can steal it?"  It wasn't about art it was about greed.

In spite of that crime, I keep on creating knowing that the wolf is always at the door.  Well
the wolf can kiss my ass.  He might get me again because I am that good and he knows it.  But I will NOT let the wolf dictate how I create, or affect my love for art, or passion for life.  If that would happen the wolf would have stolen more than my art, he would have consumed my soul, and after all that is the core reason for all intellectual property theft, rhink about it.  They want your soul.

Today some people view all art as a natural resource like water; it is so plentiful that we can waste it.  I do not download other people's music.  I do not encourage my kids or friends to download music from the web.  I hold all I associate with to a higher standard as downloading is theft, pure and simple.  Why buy it when you can steal it.

Most of the people who download illegally can't write music so they have little understanding for what it takes to be creative.  They aren't jerks.  They don't consider themselves thieves.  They are decent people.  They download it because they like it; maybe they can't afford it, so download is the only way to have access to it.  Keep in mind that the radio, web radio, friends collections, stores and libraries are a great place to preview music.  So preview is no excuse.

In the culture we live in downloading music illegally is almost considered a right.  And that is the most distressing part of all.  We're losing our moral center and don't even realize it.  The swinging pendulum of moral decay has a guillotine sharp edge set to cut our heads off.  Intellectual property theft diminishes society over time as more and more people quit the creative arts because they cannot make a living from it due to theft.

John, I started this off with da Vinci to point out that a snail can outpace humankind’s moral evolution.  We suck as specie from lack of character.  Theft does not celebrate our creative spirit it diminishes it.

If we live in an age of enlighten we do so in spite of the common denominator not because of it.  We face the wolf in spite of its bite.  In fact we taunt the wolf.  The wolf, like Salieri from Amadeus, will forever covet the God given gift all true artists have.  But the wolf will never attain it
not even through theft.  And that is the irony and the vengeance.

I would love for there to be a solution but maybe that story about the snake, the horny guy, the good looking babe and the apple should be a lesson.  We fell from grace long ago.

It may take us to eternity before we can pick up the pieces and find a solution.  But, all things considered, it is still a fun ride.

Mburke

© 2003 Mburke ;-)  LOL