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Bad Mentor, Bad
06.17.2004 by Christian
Fewer Than 1 in 10 Teenagers Believe that Music Piracy is Morally Wrong -
“The study shows that born again Christian teens are not much different than are non-born again teens in terms of holding an anti-piracy moral position.
Just 10% of Christian teens believe that copying CDs for friends and unauthorized music downloading are morally wrong, compared to 6% of non-born agains (the four-point difference barely qualified as statistically significant). Also, the proportion of pragmatists was statistically equivalent – 64% of born again Christians and 66% of non-Christians.
One of the most troubling findings of the survey was the fact that most teens opposed to music piracy are not entirely convinced that their perspectives are correct. Just 1 in every 3 teens (36%) who take the piracy-is-wrong view said they feel very certain of that stance. That means just 1 out of every 50 American teens is strongly convinced that it is wrong to copy CDs for friends or to download music illegally. To make matters worse, two-thirds of those teens who embrace piracy (64%) are convinced of their views.”
I’d be interested to see the statistics on Youth leaders (teachers, ministers, mentors, etc.) view of whether or not this is morally wrong. It is a sad state we have gotten ourselves into when we compromise our own morals just becuase we are cheap (or whatever other reason you may rationalize this problem away with). Then we don’t teach against it and we set the example for our youth. Shame on us! Don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking what you do and what you say doesn’t affect your children (and your children’s children).
Interfere in the lives of the people you love (and those you are supposed to love).
June 18th, 2004 at 6:33 pm
I’m a homeschooled highschool student. As far as interaction with my peers goes, I’m enveloped in a very Christian environment. All the co-op classes, drama troupes, debate clubs, etc., I am involved with are Christian. From that angle, the statistics in the article seem completely accurate. All my friends have a solid moral foundation in almost every area, but music piracy seems just to be a trivial, everyday affair.
June 18th, 2004 at 10:59 pm
I’ll be honest, I have a hard time working up any outrage on this issue. I understand the moral and legal implications of the issue but I have a lot of other issues that come up long before getting worried about companies that have long ripped off both artists and consumers getting ripped off themselves.
And in terms of simply making copies of CDs (versus d/ling files) I don’t see any moral problem with that. The RIAA collects a 2% surcharge on every CD-R sold and an additional $2 for every CD burner sold. THis is explicitly charged for the express purpose of off-setting the loss incurred from copying CDs. If I’m already paying for it, why is it wrong to do it?
June 19th, 2004 at 12:13 am
Tim,
Moral compromise is moral compromise. Period. And your hesitation/indifference is exactly what I’m talking about. Granted, if a kid is going to stand up for his faith while thinking stealing is okay, I’d rather he be able to do that than know that piracy is wrong and not be able to defend his faith. But it shouldn’t be an either/or thing. We do not profess or teach an incomplete gospel full of half truths and compromises just because we are selfish. No, we preach Christ. Let us not rationalize away our morality.
June 19th, 2004 at 12:33 am
I’m not going to spend my intellectual capital or other resources to try to protect companies that have abused both their employees and their consumers. They were convicted of price manipulation and paid out $2 per individual who had bought a CD in a 10 year period. I’m not terribly concerned about making an issue of it. There’s far more important things that I won’t have the time or energy to talk about.
And again, I’m already being charged for copying CDs, why shouldn’t I take advantage of it?
June 21st, 2004 at 3:05 pm
If 98% of the population believe that copying music is permissible, is it possible that they are right, and that the law as currently framed is wrong? Historically, copyright was a limited privilege extended to publishers for a the public good (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_copyright). It did not establish perpetual ownership of created works. Perhaps the record labels are the moral offenders, for claiming ownership of something which is not theirs to own, in support of a business model which has been made obsolete by new technology? Just trying to think sideways a little.
June 21st, 2004 at 3:08 pm
Sorry, that’s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_copyright
June 21st, 2004 at 5:05 pm
Perhaps the current copyright laws are not what they should be. However, I don’t quite see how music piracy is morally required of Christians (there may be some circumstances in which it is, but not generally). With that in mind, I would think that it is our job to accept the laws of the government.
June 21st, 2004 at 6:01 pm
Absolutely. Right and wrong is not a matter of public opinion, it is the law of God as revealed in His word. As Christians we are commanded to pay a worker his wages, and to obey the law of the land except where this contradicts God’s law, so there really isn’t any justification for a Christian to infringe copyright. At the same time, it concerns me that the music industry has labelled copyright infringment as something which it is not, by calling it “theft” and “piracy”.
June 24th, 2004 at 3:23 pm
Personally, I download music, not all the time, probably on average a song a day. Rob mentioned paying a worker his wages. That’s one thing that record companies do less and less of, pay the artists that they sign. Most of an artists revenue comes from the tours. I don’t consider music ‘piracy’ theft, or even really piracy for that matter. I have a hard time convincing myself to pay a company about twenty dollars for something they paid someone else about two cents per copy to make. I think that would be theft from me, if any theft is occurring on either side.
June 24th, 2004 at 5:38 pm
Hmm, it seems like what we have established is that the record labels are dirty rotten cheaters. (Whoopee, big surprise, an American media industry is found to be corrupt!) But the reasoning from there seems to be basically that it’s okay to steal back what someone stole from us. We can hit them as long as they hit us first. I don’t agree with this sentiment. As I said before, I feel that it is our duty not to download music free, because we are to obey our government in situations where it is not in conflict with God’s commands. This could also be applied to a lot of other areas.
July 14th, 2004 at 7:22 pm
Good for you, then.