You Are Being Lied to About Pirates

[Agnapostate]

Johann Hari: You Are Being Lied to About Pirates

Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as "one of the great menace of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell -- and some justice on their side.

Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda-heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains of All nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence to find out. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off for a second, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked consistently, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.

Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied against their tyrannical captains - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century." They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal navy." This is why they were popular, despite being unproductive thieves.

(Continued...)

This is an insightful piece, not necessarily because it's entirely accurate, but because it provides a welcome alternate perspective in what has thus far been an ideological ech chamber. This excerpt effectively captures the main thrust of the commentary:

This is the context in which the men we are calling "pirates" have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and it's not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was "to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters... We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas."

Again, perhaps not entirely accurate and obviously one-sided, but a pertinent commentary worthy of consideration.

 

[Toro]

They are pirates.

 

[del]

Johann Hari: You Are Being Lied to About Pirates

Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as "one of the great menace of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell -- and some justice on their side.

Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda-heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains of All nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence to find out. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off for a second, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked consistently, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.

Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied against their tyrannical captains - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century." They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal navy." This is why they were popular, despite being unproductive thieves.

(Continued...)

This is an insightful piece, not necessarily because it's entirely accurate, but because it provides a welcome alternate perspective in what has thus far been an ideological ech chamber. This excerpt effectively captures the main thrust of the commentary:

This is the context in which the men we are calling "pirates" have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and it's not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was "to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters... We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas."

Again, perhaps not entirely accurate and obviously one-sided, but a pertinent commentary worthy of consideration.

no, it's not worthy of consideration. they're criminals. full stop. end of sentence. have a nice utilitarian day.

 

[Agnapostate]

That's not a meaningful basis for rejecting equality of consideration, considering the divergence between the law and ethics.

 

[manu1959]

this is a dupe thread....truth matters posted this a few days ago.....

lets all rob banks and give the money to the poor.........

 

[del]

That's not a meaningful basis for rejecting equality of consideration, considering the divergence between the law and ethics.

let me know when you're done.

i'll be alphabetizing my sock drawer.

 

[Agnapostate]

let me know when you're done.

i'll be alphabetizing my sock drawer.

In that case, you have a lot of work to do.

 

[del]

let me know when you're done.

i'll be alphabetizing my sock drawer.

In that case, you have a lot of work to do.

not really.
left in the front.
right in the back.

it'll be more interesting than this thread, though.

 

[Agnapostate]

If you're gone, I see no reason for the thread to be uninteresting.

 

[RodISHI]

this is a dupe thread....truth matters posted this a few days ago.....

lets all rob banks and give the money to the poor.........

If they are the ones that robbed from the poor they should not get off scott free.

 

[xotoxi]

let me know when you're done.

i'll be alphabetizing my sock drawer.

In that case, you have a lot of work to do.

not really.
left in the front.
right in the back.

it'll be more interesting than this thread, though.

Shouldn't left be in the back and right be in the front, because back comes alphabetically before front?

But then again...instead of front and back, you could call them bow and stern, and then you wouldn't have to reorganize your drawer.

I don't worry, because I use tube socks.

 

[xsited1]

 

[manu1959]

this is a dupe thread....truth matters posted this a few days ago.....

lets all rob banks and give the money to the poor.........

If they are the ones that robbed from the poor they should not get off scott free.

the scotts are always guilty......

 

[xotoxi]

Obama has a great sense of humor to pose for that pic.

 

[dilloduck]

Obama has a great sense of humor to pose for that pic.

even dyed his hands a la Michael Jackson !

 

[jillian]

Again, perhaps not entirely accurate and obviously one-sided, but a pertinent commentary worthy of consideration.

why is it welcome when people distort reality and excuse criminal behavior?

 

[Agnapostate]

why is it welcome when people distort reality and excuse criminal behavior?

I've already mentioned that there's a necessary divergence between the law and ethics; the nature of your objection shall have to be derived from elsewhere. As for excusals of criminal behavior, we can point to the fact that I've never had anything but contempt for Menachem Begin and his Irgun terrorism, a sympathy I'm sure you share.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Interesting read, I also thought it was fitting that they refer to themselves as the "Volunteer Coast Guard of Somalia." They certainly are criminals, but not any more so than some other institutions that we do not consider criminals or "pirates."

The story of the Alexander the Great and a pirate seems especially fitting.

In the "City of God," St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great. The Emperor angrily demanded of him, "How dare you molest the seas?" To which the pirate replied, "How dare you molest the whole world? Because I do it with a small boat, I am called a pirate and a thief. You, with a great navy, molest the world and are called an emperor." St. Augustine thought the pirate's answer was "elegant and excellent."

Marginal Revolution: Saint Augustine on Pirates

 

[Shogun]

HA!


Another quality thread by the latest manifestation of bullshit ethical paradigms.

allsome.

 

[Agnapostate]

HA!


Another quality thread by the latest manifestation of bullshit ethical paradigms.

allsome.

You wouldn't happen to be a spambot, would you? If not, can we get one to replace you?