92 year old WWII vet bootlegs 300,000 DVDs and sends them to American soldiers in Afghanastan

[Thaluikhain]

What do you mean one of the worst and underpaid? I'm sure a sweatshop worker in China would love to be a US soldier since a Sweatshop worker tends to have a much more dangerous job if at least as dangerous as a US soldier. That's not even mentioning the fact that people pay off college by going to the military, not necessarily "poor pay" either. Considering the US military is so corrupt and many of its members commit crimes such as murder and rape (I'm going to assume mostly against the female soldiers) and on top of that GET AWAY WITH IT, it's rather surprising more people don't just hate the military like they did during the Vietnam War.

There's a lot of rapes committed against female US military personnel by male US military personnel, yes, they are at more risk of being raped by their own side that killed by the enemy.

That would seem to work against the argument that it's not a terrible job to have, at least for women. Both genders are massively over-represented in homelessness after leaving the military, with a sudden increase in women over the last few years, and predictable mishandling of support structures.

 

[Xan Krieger]

I don't see why people think soldiers deserve such special treatment. They get paid over there, they aren't saints or something. And being a WWII veteran doesn't really give him leave to break the law.

I have to agree here, I hope he gets fined. That's a lot of DVDs and if people get busted for copying a few then this guy is either getting fined massively or thrown in jail for the rest of his life.

The rest of his life is likely to be very short, since he's, you know, 92 years old. Most people are in nursing homes at that age, I think jail is a little extreme.

I don't see why people think soldiers deserve such special treatment. They get paid over there, they aren't saints or something. And being a WWII veteran doesn't really give him leave to break the law.

Because they have one of the worse jobs in the world and are horribly underpaid for it? Sure it doesn't give him a legal excuse to break the law, but he's 92 years old and has brought a lot of joy to a lot of people far away from their homes and family.

They chose to do that job and I doubt it was mostly for saintly reasons. It certainly isn't the kind of job that I think does the most benefit in the world anyway.

And I don't think his age excuses it, unless he isn't mentally fit.

For saintly reasons? No, they chose it because they believed that it was the right thing to do. Considering the terrible cost it could come at, they have my respect. I wouldn't have the balls to go into a combat situation like that. That's why I feel they deserve my respect, even if I totally disagree with what they're doing.

As for Big Hy, his age doesn't excuse his actions, but I doubt he'll be jailed for it. And if he's sued, it'll look terrible for the MPAA, especially with media attention on him.

So if no jail time then what punishment should he get? I see no reason why he shouldn't be punished and punished badly because 300,000 is way more than are made by guys who gets years of prison time and huge fines.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Illegal maybe, but epicness personified.

 

[accipitre]

So if no jail time then what punishment should he get? I see no reason why he shouldn't be punished and punished badly because 300,000 is way more than are made by guys who gets years of prison time and huge fines.

I don't think he should be punished. Sure, what he did was *legally* wrong, but so is driving 2 miles per hour over the speed limit. So is protesting in a place the secret service decides to define as protected, even if they define it during the protest. Not just merely illegal, but a felony at that. What this man has done points out the terrible flaws in our laws, while doing a noble and kind thing.

I swear, I feel like half the people in this thread would have had Robin Hood hanged.

 

[Xan Krieger]

So if no jail time then what punishment should he get? I see no reason why he shouldn't be punished and punished badly because 300,000 is way more than are made by guys who gets years of prison time and huge fines.

I don't think he should be punished. Sure, what he did was *legally* wrong, but so is driving 2 miles per hour over the speed limit. So is protesting in a place the secret service decides to define as protected, even if they define it during the protest. Not just merely illegal, but a felony at that. What this man has done points out the terrible flaws in our laws, while doing a noble and kind thing.

I swear, I feel like half the people in this thread would have had Robin Hood hanged.

2 miles over the speed limit is no big deal, neither is peacefully protesting. Thing is this guy didn't just pirate 3 DVDs, 30 DVDs, not 300 DVDs, this was 300 THOUSAND. He broke the law on a huge scale just to give them to people (whether they be soldiers, bankers, Wal-mart employees, gas station attendents) and there is no real way to justify mass piracy.

 

[Doomy23]

I love the hypocrisy up in this thread. Almost everybody has just advocated piracy.

Oh gee, people on the internet are in favor of piracy ? GASP !

 

[LetalisK]

I don't see why people think soldiers deserve such special treatment. They get paid over there, they aren't saints or something. And being a WWII veteran doesn't really give him leave to break the law.

Because they have one of the worse jobs in the world and are horribly underpaid for it? Sure it doesn't give him a legal excuse to break the law, but he's 92 years old and has brought a lot of joy to a lot of people far away from their homes and family.

What do you mean one of the worst and underpaid? I'm sure a sweatshop worker in China would love to be a US soldier since a Sweatshop worker tends to have a much more dangerous job if at least as dangerous as a US soldier. That's not even mentioning the fact that people pay off college by going to the military, not necessarily "poor pay" either. Considering the US military is so corrupt and many of its members commit crimes such as murder and rape (I'm going to assume mostly against the female soldiers) and on top of that GET AWAY WITH IT, it's rather surprising more people don't just hate the military like they did during the Vietnam War.

As much as I would expect everything to be better in the military, that's not exactly shocking considering the overwhelming majority of civilian crimes don't even get reported, let alone the criminal apprehended. I wish it were different for the military, but it's not.

 

[Vegosiux]

Majority of people on here don't voice a pro-piracy opinion because advocating it is a bannable offense. That's the biggest reason. But in this case, they can circumvent the rules a little.

If the rules are so easily circumvented, then...ugh. See, that's the thing about rules and laws, they should be the same for everyone...

Now pirates all across the globe can argue it's okay to pirate if you send a couple hundred copies over to Afghanistan or wherever.

 

[viranimus]

OMG!!! Execute him for crimes against capitalism! There is no punishment cruel or unusual enough.

Just kidding, We salute you for your service good sir regardless if you dun goof`d

 

[CATS FTW]

I don't see why people think soldiers deserve such special treatment. They get paid over there, they aren't saints or something. And being a WWII veteran doesn't really give him leave to break the law.

Dude, you're kind of a grumpy patootle what's up? Feel free to IM someone if you you're feeling down; I'm even available but I have a feeling that you only said that because you wanted to be contrary, not because you actually care about some multi-billion dollar movie studio.

 

[CATS FTW]

So if no jail time then what punishment should he get? I see no reason why he shouldn't be punished and punished badly because 300,000 is way more than are made by guys who gets years of prison time and huge fines.

I don't think he should be punished. Sure, what he did was *legally* wrong, but so is driving 2 miles per hour over the speed limit. So is protesting in a place the secret service decides to define as protected, even if they define it during the protest. Not just merely illegal, but a felony at that. What this man has done points out the terrible flaws in our laws, while doing a noble and kind thing.

I swear, I feel like half the people in this thread would have had Robin Hood hanged.

To badly borrow from Eddie Izzard, when someone commits an atrocity such as murder by themselves we are pissed, however when one person by themselves kills 300 people we kind of have to give them some credit where credit is due, that's hard work without a bomb. Same goes for pirating, it's a crappy thing but whoah... 300,000 copies, by himself, as well as with just one multi disc drived computer. That is impressive.

 

[CATS FTW]

I don't see why people think soldiers deserve such special treatment. They get paid over there, they aren't saints or something. And being a WWII veteran doesn't really give him leave to break the law.

Dude, you're kind of a grumpy patootle what's up? Feel free to IM someone if you you're feeling down; I'm even available but I have a feeling that you only said that because you wanted to be contrary, not because you actually care about some multi-billion dollar movie studio.

I've been pretty consistent in disliking people's praise of the military, so, yeah don't make silly assumptions. I never said I cared about the movie studio either. I'm just pointing out it really isn't justified.

No need to condescend me with the sillyness, I was just wondering about your emotional outlook, life isn't always painful misery.

 

[The Pinray]

Nice of him, I guess. I don't condone his action, though.

Other than that, I don't see this ending well. Quite the pickle.

either the MPAA lets a pirate go
or they end up suing a 92 WWII vet that supports the troops in his own way
I would love to see how this ends

hey escapists for the sake of discussion what if this was a teenager instead of a WWII vet would you still defend him?

I'm going to go with no.

If this was a fourteen year old kid sending 300k DVDs people would be far more critical, though I'm sure he'd have his fair share of supporters to simply because it's "For the Troops (Tear shed)."

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

He won't be punished for it, but its definitely immoral.

I swear, I feel like half the people in this thread would have had Robin Hood hanged.

Somebody never read Robin Hood. The story of Robin Hood is about governments extralegally robbing their citizens. Robin Hood isn't a story of Charity, that is a recently popular reinterpretation. The story is about people getting justice against thieves, no matter what clothes they wear or what titles they bear.