But, Yogi! What About The Ranger?

My beloved husband gave me today's topic. Yes, as always it's about conservatives and capitalism, but from a spin I doubt many think about and I would like, Gentle Reader, to discern the truth as I have.

For years I torrented. Oh yeah, big time. I downloaded so many movies it was ridiculous. However, unlike most people, if I liked the movie I bought the DVD as soon as it was available. I considered the torrented movies as a test drive. Now, let me lay out the logic behind that.

I have four children and one husband. When I torrented all children were living at home and in school. However, to go to a movie in the evening the tickets alone would have cost us nearly $50, even with student discounts if the kids had school IDs and brought them with us. That was just to get in the door. Now, if we bought snacks at the concession stand, we would have shelled out, easily, over $100 for cokes, popcorn, and candy. God forbid one of the kids wanted the nachos. So a trip to see a movie could cost us up to $150. If that movie was crap we'd shelled out all that money for nothing. Since most movies coming out of Hollywood are crap, we chose to not go to the theater to see them. We chose to torrent the movies, see if they were worth the price of a ticket. If they were we would see it on the big screen and buy the DVD. If it was a movie we really liked but was not worth the effort of actually going to the theater with screaming kids, cell phones and the VCR generation, we would wait and buy the DVD. So, as far as I can make out, Hollywood stars still got their gold plated pools and another Hummer.

I stopped torrenting when my favorite site went down and I didn't even have the inclination to begin asking friends about new private sites. Then I lost the server I kept my movies and music on. I still did not care. I had the music backed up but not the movies. I began to realize that when I was torrenting I was not being true to my philosophy, not really. I was stealing and stealing is wrong, whether its materials goods or intellectual goods. So I just gave it up and never looked back. Was this because I wanted the artists to receive their due? I know damned well the artists who make these movies and music are not going to get one more cent. The MPAA and RCIA will. It makes me sick that these parasites will get one more unearned penny, but I have to be true to my beliefs.

So, I wait for the movies to come on PPV, and I pay $6 to check a movie out. If I like it, I go buy the DVD. If I don't then I'm just out the $6, and I didn't have to expend any fossil fuels into the atmosphere to do it. If I like a song, it's always available for download somewhere. I can afford the 99 cents at iTunes.

Now, here is one thing that is going to blow your mind. I still will NOT pay the outrageous price that Adobe demands for Photoshop. Not even the stripped down version is worth the price tag they put on that load of bloatware. So I deal with Microsloth's Paint and hope for the best. I will find a cheaper photo editing program, Photoshop is not the only game in town. And they would do well to remember that. There is always a bigger fish.

So, next time you're sitting there looking at Vuze or whatever app you use for pirating, remember Yogi's answer to Boo Boo when he asked about Ranger Smith. Be smarter than the average bear and be true to your beliefs. If you think pirating is a good thing, then don't call the cops when someone breaks into your house or steals your car. You have no moral leg to stand on.