[pp.int.general] Protest certain musicians?

[Eric Priezkalns]

On 22 Oct 2009, at 15:49, Mikko Särelä wrote:

> On Thu, 22 Oct 2009, Philip Hunt wrote:
>> Maybe PP could have a blacklist of musicians who've made public
>> statements against filesharing or internet freedom, and recommend to
>> our supporters that they don't buy from these people.
>
> I believe this is one of those bad ideas. One of the important  
> advantages
> Pirate Party has enjoyed in media and public's eye comes from the fact
> that our opponentsdwants us disappear. Some even have stated we  
> should be
> illegal.
>
> <snip>
>
> Let us show that we are the reasonable, intelligent people who have
> actually thought about these issues and let our opponents be as media
> stupid as they want to be - they do not understand the changes  
> Internet
> has brought and will fall, hard.
>
> "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you,  
> then
> you win." Mahatma Gandhi

I completely agree with Philip, and his choice of quote is very  
opponent.

At present, the most common but simplistic presentation of this debate  
is that pirates are selfish people we no concern for the suffering  
they will cause.  Our opponents present themselves as victims who  
stand up for their moral rights.  To win over every moderate and  
undecided person to our side, we have to be like Gandhi.  We have to  
occupy the moral high ground.  We will win by presenting ourselves as  
more virtuous than our opponents.

Taking the moral high ground is not hard to do.  We favour sharing.   
We favour choice.  We favour freedom.  The hard part is being as  
patient and disciplined as someone like Gandhi.  The hard part is not  
giving into our emotions and being tempted to 'fight back' when our  
opponents do us wrong.  Negative actions like telling people not to  
buy or listen to music from certain people sends out the wrong  
message.  Our argument is that filesharing and internet freedom is  
good, even for our opponents.  We won't persuade by threatening and  
pressuring people with economic sanctions.  We will persuade if we  
stay true and state the arguments positively, time and again, for as  
long as it takes.

Eric