92 year old WWII vet bootlegs 300,000 DVDs and sends them to American soldiers in Afghanastan Pages PREV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NEXT | |
Soldiers don't deserve special treatment, they are just bored as fuck and there are periods of time they have to spend more than 10 hours without anything else to do but to expend ammunition at the range or jack off. Being a WWII veteran means that he felt like helping people who are deployed overseas. But thank you for entirely missing the point and spreading that good old negativism.
I'd gladly accept that argument, except the fact that speeding, jaywalking and running red lights are also crimes but everyone does it.
Just saying: anyone who is over 19 pirated the fuck outta those VHS tapes and is a complete hypocrite by criticizing what this man did. I advocate what he did, because he did something to help someone.
And that means what? That everyone must hate them? No, it doesn't. It doesn't mean anything. I am studying Mechanical Engineering and I am telling you: I don't agree with you. Your point is completely hypocritical. I believe I don't have to respect someone over other people if I don't know them, and I know that there are shitheads in the military. Why does being an engineer or a scientist make you less of a shithead or worthy of respect? I want to become an engineer because I want to. I like it and I like earning more money than others. I am not doing it because I want to help people. Helping people? Fuck no. If I wanted to help people I'd join the military.
First, the military is required. Next time a cargo ship sinks let's see who will save the fishermen without the Air Force/Navy/Coast Guard. Second, we are animals. | |
Why do you see things in white and black? I said they aren't saints, in no way did I imply we should hate them so stop being so defensive. I'm saying we shouldn't revere them as gods as many here do, it's a job like any other. I didn't say it being an engineer makes you worthy of respect, I said that if you are going to respect someone you may as well respect people who help society. How does joining the military help anyone? You go to other countries and bomb the shit out of them. | |
Because
I never really was seeing things in white and black. If you weren't trying to imply that we should hate them then your argument is absolutely pointless. Just someone isn't a "saint" doesn't mean that people can't do anything nice for them, and doesn't mean that there are actually no saints among them.
Next time a bridge collapses, your plane crashes or your ship sinks, who will be there to save your ass? The Air Force, the Navy or even the Coast Guard. Next time there is a huge accident in the water, who will recover the bodies? Divers from the Navy or the Marine Corps. Who else helps people in the military? Probably the Engineers, who rebuild roads, schools and bridges. Probably the Docs and nurses. Who keeps the pirates off the commercial routes? Who does Medvacs? Who does Search & Rescue? The military, that's who. Fortunately for you, you never had to need military assistance. But that doesn't mean you have a reasonable excuse to spit out your liberal views on the military you got from watching TV. | |
Yes, you do see things in black and white, just admit it. Wait, you did and then backpedaled immediately. My point is that everyone saying this massive act of piracy should be allowed because it's going to soldiers but I guarantee that if this happened for any other profession the posts here would be much different. I think they shouldn't get special treatment, they weren't forced into the job, they accepted the risks.
Fair enough. | |
Put it this way, the movie companies are barely losing any money, as they do not distribute the films over there. He isn't gaining any money from doing this. If he charged for it, then maybe something should be done, but he is just doing something to help soldiers, the real life heroes of our world who are horribly underpaid and under appreciated. | |
Out of the many people I chose to quote you since you seemed the least hostile.. Ehem. Although this isnt specifically 'pointed' at you. I think the US military, is -the- worst Western Military in the world. It is also the largest, and consists of enough different people for one group to bring down the average overall. It could be the rampant numbers of rape is within a few select units with crappy officers. And the many civilians killed were doing bombing-runs which werent soldiers, but Politicians (Aka Bush)'s fault. But I dont think they 'shouldnt' take the blame for it. They could have said no. By not saying no, they are standing behind their superiors decision and as such they are to take the blame aswell. If an officer does a bummer, the whole unit goes down for it. Its generally like that. When an officer forgave several rape offenses the whole unit got shit for it. I dont know how large it is, hundreds.. Maybe a thousand soldiers. So its impossible that they had all contributed to something that is a rather large number. But consequence of being in such an orderly structure is that people are gonna generalize. And Soldiers accept that just as much as they accept taking a job which can lead to their death. It is the military's responsibility, to make the soldiers act properly. And in the US military, its simply been seen far too often that this is not the case, with millions of people -in- the military its impossible to prevent everything. But this is why its divided into parts, and when you then compare those parts to other countries, the US Military is.... Well. In a crappy state to say the least. Its still not the majority of their soldiers who are rapists, but when you have more of a chance of getting raped by your brothers in arms than actually getting hurt by your enemies... Thats a scary thought. Its a sign that the military is in need of a restructure, and that the corrupt officers and offending soldiers should get the boot, and a just punishment. Far too often has it been seen that just because they are on the front, and because the offense they have made is against other soldiers, other countries civilians. They get away with it with far less. If somebody killed 50-60 Americans, they would get lifetime. Maybe even Execution. Afghanistanis? 1-2 years. A demotion, and vastly diminished chance of promotion in the future. How is that fair? Its not. War isnt fair, but even then this sort of thing should get punished properly. As for the mass of rape episodes that are just ignored by officers, although minor offences compared to the mass-slaughter of civilians, its still rather serious. And another sign that the administration in the US military is broken. Disorganized, and corrupt. They are not getting enough regulation which has resulted in them getting some really bad apples, aswell as a bloated budget where you only get half the bang for a buck. People who say that there is something wrong with the military is not simply 'pacifistic antiwar whiners' some have reason. A military being large is not an excuse to ignore the geneva convention. Nor ignore local laws. Or even your own countries laws. When a military ends up with an independance like that, somethings gone wrong. And there is no arguement against that.
In the US people have become too fond of their military, too... Nationalistic. Militaristic. A wise man once said that we shouldnt become too fond of neither soldiers nor war. That we should hate them both in order -not- to become fond of either. I dont hate soldiers, its impossible to. They are humans. But I 'can' however hate war. And I 'can' support that if we 'do' wage war we do it in ways that harm the least civilians possible. The US Military (Although again, Bush is to take a large part of the blame) Has been corrupted for a long time, this is generally speaking. A lot of soldiers might be alright blokes. Heck, my uncles a soldier. But too many have had lawbreakings gone unpunished, and corruption has risen from broken regulation. The US military is -broken- And only manages to run, barely. Because the Goverment pushes a trillion dollars into it a year. Far more money than the stuff they get is worth. Oh also, educate yourself on Liberalism m8. You are ignorant on the subject. | |
oh my god it's karl from up! look! hahaha also yay for doing the wrong thing for the right reasons! lol but still look at this guy he's the old guy from up! hahaha | |
Few jobs in the world result in such culture shock, PTSD, and threat of death then being a soldier. Sure we have a volunteer army (posting in terms of the US), and some may argue that a military isn't required, but I would have to disagree and defend the need for an army and those who join it. In terms of breaking the law, I personally judge laws by the moral and ethical implications they have by breaking them, in this case I would side with the 92yo. | |
And right now I don't think those hardships are necessary. Sure we need a military, at least as some kind of deterrent, but in these times that would not be such a risky job. Right now joining is just perpetuating a useless conflict we shouldn't have started.
Considering that there was no particularly valid reason to pirate it in this case I don't see why. | |
Yes, it was such a backpedal that I had to say exactly what I... Wait. I never went back with what I said. My point is not their job, my point is that someone was trying to do something nice.
First of all, I am European. Second, I was talking about the liberal media, not Liberalism politics.
Dude, you're having too much fun. | |
You really did backpedal.
See, you admit to seeing in black and white then take it back. A classic example of backpedaling, it doesn't help that you did it immediately after admitting to it. So would you be ok if someone sent 300,000 DVDs to workers in supermarkets all over the world? | |
I am against copyright laws as they are so it would be awesome, I guess? Doesn't explain how I am seeing things in white and black, since I know for a fact that everything has shades of grey. | |
Because you assumed I think that we should hate soldiers when I said they weren't saints. That, and you also admitted it. | |
Since you seem to have missed it the
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Wow, if they ever make a live action movie of "up", that's the guy they should hire. He is the spitting image of Carl. As for what he did, I don't really care whether it's bad or not. Doesn't matter anyway, it's up to Hollywood to decide whether they think it's worth it to fine him and deal with the bad PR or not. | |
1)You have no clue what liberal means This fails. The moment you dragged "liberal" into it, you pretty much proved that nothing you said had any merit whatsoever. Seriously. I wonder if you people who are so desperate that soldiers get DVDs ACTUALLY help soldiers. I doubt it. Where are you when soldiers return after the war, and don't get anything paid, even though the country has an obligation to? Where are you when soldiers that are permanently scarred by the war get dropped by the army like hot coal, ending with the soldiers losing their homes, becoming homeless? Where are you? Oh, right. You're here, on a forum, whining that someone doesn't cheer about soldiers getting free DVDs. Because that's easy. Actually working to take the army to task and make them treat their soldiers better would take work. It's [i]hard[/b]. So you don't do it. Instead, you pretend to care about soldiers, but as you admit, you really only care for your views on copyright. That's really, really awful. Soldiers don't need free DVDs, they need the army to take responsibility for a change. The way the american army treats some veterans is abominable. | |
OMG he pirated a movie, by EM logic he shall be crucified. KILL KILL KILL Copyright law is the single most retarded laws ever concieved anyway, you don't own the product you bought, seriously how stupid is that shit? £$€£$£€£$€£$€ also all this butthurt, it's hillarious to read this actually, thanks | |
Wow, hats off to this guy. In my opinion, it's not about copyright laws and that what he is doing is illegal. I've been on a deployment in Afghanistan. If I had received DVDs from a proud veteran, I probably would have shed a tear or two of appreciation. Being out there, any type of correspondence from back home is always welcome. To know that a brother in arms is looking out for your morale by sending you the means to relax when you have down time, it means everything. | |
This is just so wrong and people really have narrow views on such things... the problem isn't that the guy sent all those DVDs to soldiers, the problem isn't that the soldiers didn't deserve all those DVDs, or that the soldiers should be considered heroes or not. The problem is that the guy spent all that money to PIRATE DVDs instead of actually BUYING legal copies and sending them over. How the hell is spending money to send pirated DVDs in any way respectable or admirable? He spent anything from 30k US dollars (as stated in the article) to 100k dollars (as calculated by a couple posters here) to pirate some movies and ship them somewhere. Why couldn't he have just bought the movies directly with that money? Or even better, why couldn't he just have donated that money? It's in no way excusable, not for any reason. He could have chosen to spend money and actually BUY the movies, but he chose to spend money to PIRATE them. | |
Perhaps....perhaps he just does'nt give a fuck? He's 90-something years old, his wife is dead, he's retired, and he has some spare time before he kicks the bucket. So why not?
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Yeah, but I wasn't commenting on what he thought. Sure he seems to think it was a good idea, I never said he didn't. | |
Beyond what was said about search and rescue(because if the military didn't have funding SOMEONE would be doing it.) The Military is the dirty grease that keeps the machine going. All of the oil in the plastics to aid our modern medical system, the pesticides and fuel that power the tractors, combines and delivery trucks of our food network, The tires on all the cities buses, firetrucks, ambulances etc., countless components of your various entertainment consoles and computers. Really... all of the shit that makes America, England... hell many parts of the western "developed" world what they are. They're facilitated by the might of the U.S. military forcing the trade lanes open that they do. Blood for oil is blood for everything you are gonna do today whether you like it or not. You can hate it as much as I do. But life has always fed on life. You think France and England went all out to take down Gaddafi because they give a shit about Libyans? Or do you think his announcement that he was going to start selling more Libyan oil to Africa made tons of French and U.K. politicians go " Ooooooh shiiiiit. Our countries have fully funded healthcare systems... we really REALLY have to have that oil at the same price is was before in the same quantities as before." life's a bitch ya know? It all pretty much sucks. | |
That would be the job of our elected officials to deal with, not something to bring to the individual soldiers. For what ever reason our officials believe we need to be in this war, enough to send out our military, if we did not have enough volunteer forces we would start drafting in civilians to fight. Yes it's a risky job, but as the tired old saying goes someone has to do it, but I can assure you few people would find you at fault for attacking a 92yo sending bootlegged DVDs to the politicians responsible for this war.
Are you defining your validity from lawfulness or morality? The reason for his actions are clear, human compassion and the belief that his actions will give some peace and enjoyment to the soldiers he's sending the DVDs to. | |
He b honorin da bro code yo! Dat cat be aight in mah book?! Translation: He is honoring the bro code! That guy is alright in my book! | |
He payed money for the DVDs and the shipping, money he could have payed for actual LEGAL copies of those movies. So no, he had absolutely no reason to pirate the movies. | |
Kinda have to agree. Nobodies being drafted, this isn't WWII where people go oversea's against their will to defend a country. | |
Quantity? | |
Yes, being able to send more movies is a perfectly justifiable reason to commit a crime. | |
No, it's quite relevant to the people who choose to sign up knowing that they're perpetuating. And if they're doing something unnecessary then it's silly to talk about it being necessary. If they go through hardships that aren't necessary and don't help me, why should I care?
Morality there. Human compassion is not much of a reason to take things that others created and sell for free. It's not as if they deserve free junk like that out of compassion. | |
I misread your context. I was thinking reason why he would do it. Not reason why he could be forgiven. | |
A 92 year old WW2 vet? I bet he had only good intentions but you go about this by running a campaign to gather and send the soldiers the DVDs, players, and TVs if need be in a legitimate manner. Not by ignoring and screwing over the also hard working people (think the ones who do the grunt work during a movie if you actively want to screw the actors and big studio executives) who made the DVDs in the first place to support themselves like the soldiers support themselves and others. | |
Am I the only one annoyed by the fact that the OP spelled ''Afghanistan'' wrong in the title? OT: I most say im more impressed how he figured out the logistics of this project. Sending that many DVD's to a country on another continent is hard. And this particular country is in a devastating war to top it off. Also im sure this really scares the shit out of the studios. Now old people download their movies as well! Time for a new ad campaign: ''You would not steal a car'' ''You would not steal your heart medication'' | |
As was stated earlier the reason is clear, quantity, his reason for breaking the law was to give more soldiers the pleasure of watching a movie, instead of limiting it due to available income. | |
If I was his age and had his experience I probably wouldn't have thought about it that way either. I would think his thought process was along the line of "I do not have much time left, I want to give something to help people who are going through something I have been through, what is the easiest and quickest way to do that" and there was likely some sort of selfish desire for attention and wanting to be seen as a good person in there somewhere, but that goes with everything people do. As far as him breaking the law goes; I would request leniency due to his intentions, but you have to enforce the rules you make otherwise they become meaningless. He's a hero in my eyes, but that's only because he should be punished for his actions. | |
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He's probably just taking out his anger from pressing "The Button" on you :P
OT: Legally It's pretty shady but I don't really see any harm in him doing so. You could rattle on about how Hollywood is losing billions but realistically, is there any possible way for the soldiers to purchase the film? Right now? In a war zone with mortar shots landing just meters away from them? No, there's no possible way therefore they're not losing sales, just gaining publicity from it. Jeez he's not even making a profit from it cut him some slack >.>