PIRATES PRECEDE PROGRESS 

BACK IN THE 17TH CENTURY THE NAME HENRY MORGAN STRUCK FEAR INTO THE HEARTS OF OWNERS OF MERCHANT SHIPS TRAVELLING UNDER FULL SAIL IN THE FAST-MOVING TRADE LANES OF THE SPANISH MAIN. HENRY MORGAN WAS A PIRATE !

THIS WAS A TIME WHEN A NEW AGE WAS STARTING TO RUN INTO OPPOSITION FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT. MORGAN REPORTEDLY HAD BEEN KIDNAPPED IN BRISTOL, ENGLAND AND SENT TO THE WEST INDIES AS A SLAVE. HE QUICKLY BECAME LEADER OF THE BARBADIAN BUCCANEERS. AS A PIRATE HE ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF THOSE WHO HAD FORCED HIM INTO THIS NEW LIFE. HE LEARNED QUICKLY.

AGAIN TODAY PIRATES APPEAR AS THE TURBULENCE OF CHANGE OCCURS BETWEEN INTERVALS OF TIME THAT MARK A PASSING ERA. "CORPORATE RAIDERS" ARE REGARDED AS MODERN-DAY PIRATES BY MANY OF "THE ESTABLISHMENT". THESE "PIRATES" USE TACTICS NEITHER PRACTICED NOR ENVISAGED PREVIOUSLY. THEY ARE CONSIDERED UNGENTLEMANLY BY THOSE SOLIDLY ENTRENCHED AS A RESULT OF THEIR ACTIVITIES -- SOMETIMES ALSO PIRATICAL -- IN AN EARLIER TIME.

WHEN SATELLITES FIRST STARTED CELESTIAL TRANSMISSION ALMOST ANYONE OWNING A BACKYARD SATELLITE DISH WAS DESIGNATED A "PIRATE" BY MANY BROADCASTERS. SIMILARLY, ALMOST FROM THE DAY VIDEOCASSETTE RECORDERS BECAME AVAILABLE, MANY IN THE MOVIE INDUSTRY ACCUSED DISH OWNERS OF "PIRATING MOVIES". IN THE NEWS BUSINESS SOME (ME INCLUDED) WERE TAKEN TO COURT ON THE GROUNDS THAT MAKING COPIES OF CANADIAN NEWS ITEMS WAS "PIRATICAL". EVEN THOUGH NEWS IS NON-COPYRIGHTABLE, AS IT IS NOT AN ORIGINAL WORK OF ART. DUE TO LACK OF FORESIGHT THE SAME NEWS BROADCASTERS ERASED MUCH OF THEIR OWN TAPINGS AND SO LOST FOREVER THAT PART OF ELECTRONIC CANADIANA. TODAY THE ONLY EXISTING COPIES ARE IN THE HANDS OF THESE FORMER "PIRATES". THE SAME APPLIES TO MANY MOVIES THAT TURNED TO DUST RIGHT "IN THE CAN" DUE TO THE OLD CELLULOID MATERIALS USED BACK THEN. IN MANY CASES, THE "PIRATED" COPIES RETAIN THAT HISTORY FOR US.

PIRATING" IS A MORE FORCEFUL METHOD OF VOTING. PIRATES ARE CREATED WHEN CHANGE IS SEEN BY SOME AS NECESSARY BUT UNOBTAINABLE THROUGH REGULAR CULTURAL AND POLITICAL CHANNELS. A MINOR FORM IS THE CANADIANS FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA DRIVING TO WASHINGTON STATE TO BUY GASOLINE AT HALF THE CANADIAN PRICE.

BUSINESSES CATERING TO THESE "PIRATES" FLOURISH -- NOT ONLY IN THE GAS BUSINESS, BUT ALSO IN THE SALE OF BREAD, EGGS AND MILK. THESE STAPLES SELL ROUGHLY, AT A 50 PERCENT HIGHER PRICE IN A FIXED, PREVIOUSLY WELL-CONTROLLED MARKETING BOARD ENVIRONMENT LIKE BRITISH COLUMBIA. "PIRATES" PREPARING THEIR CANNONS AGAINST MARKETING BOARDS TO DATE HAVE NOT SCORED REALLY SUCCESSFUL ATTACKS. BUT STICK AROUND. WITHIN A YEAR THE EXISTING RIGID SYSTEM WILL START TO CRACK.

FOR YEARS BRITAIN HAS HAD PROBLEMS WITH PIRATE BROADCASTERS. SHIP- BORNE "RADIO CAROLINE" IN THE SIXTIES WAS THE HISTORIC ORIGINATOR OF NEW WAYS TO USE THE AIRWAVES. THEY PROVIDED PROGRAMMING THAT LISTENERS DEMANDED BUT WHICH WAS NOT ON THE MENU OF ESTABLISHMENT BROADCASTERS. THEY ALSO TAUGHT THE YOUNG WELL. TODAY IN BRITAIN THERE ARE AT LEAST 90 UNLICENSED BROADCASTERS, ABOUT 40 OF WHICH PROVIDE WHAT MANY OF LONDON'S SEVEN MILLION CITIZENS DEMAND -- MUSIC THAT MEETS THEIR NEEDS. THE LANGUAGES ARE GREEK, TURKISH AND GERMAN. THE MUSIC: REGGAE, ROCK AND AMERICAN BLACK. IN 1986 THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT SAID THEY WOULD OPEN UP 21 NEW COMMUNITY STATIONS. PIRATES COULD APPLY IF THEY SHUT DOWN FIRST. SOME DID. THE GOVERNMENT DIDN'T KEEP THEIR BARGAIN AND A NEW SURGE OF PIRATES ROSE AND FLOURISHED. THE BBC'S RADIO ONE POP STATION GOT ROCKED IN A DIFFERENT FASHION BY A NEWSPAPER POLL WHICH RATED THEM NUMBER THREE IN THE CITY BEHIND THE WEEKEND PIRATE STATION KISS, WHICH IS REPORTED TO HAVE HALF A MILLION LISTENERS. WITH THAT NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS RETAIL ADVERTISERS HAVE TO JOIN IN OR BE BLANKED OUT OF THEIR BEST MARKET. RECORD COMPANIES CAN'T SELL RECORDS THAT DON'T PLAY ON POPULAR STATIONS. THE GOVERNMENT IS SEEING THE ERRORS OF ITS WAYS. THEY WILL ALLOW THREE MORE COMMERCIAL STATIONS AND 300 TO 400 SMALLER COMMUNITY-INTEREST STATIONS. MANY OF THE PIRATES, SOME WHOM HAVE BEEN RAIDED AND HAD THEIR EQUIPMENT SEIZED UP TO 100 TIMES, ARE PREPARING TO APPLY. THEY HAVE LEARNED THEIR TRADE WELL. THEY OPERATE WITH UNDER $2,000 WORTH OF HIGHLY PORTABLE EQUIPMENT AND CAN HANDLE INSTANT LOCATION CHANGE -- THE IMAGE OF A FLEET GAZELLE RUNNING CIRCLES AROUND THE ARTHRITIC ELEPHANT OF BUREAUCRATIC INEFFICIENCY.

BACK ON AMERICA'S WEST COAST THE NEWLY-CREATED BELLIS FAIR SHOPPING CENTRE, IN WASHINGTON, WAS LARGLY BUILT TO ACCOMMODATE THIS "PIRATICAL" TENDENCY OF CANADIANS TO PROTECT THEIR POCKETBOOKS. OPENED ONLY RECENTLY THE MASSIVE PARKING LOT IS ALREADY PROVING TOO SMALL. THE MALL HAS CREATED NEW BORDER CROSSING HEADACHES FOR CUSTOMS SERVICES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER. CANADIANS CAN SHOP CHEAPER, FILL UP THEIR GAS TANKS AT HALF PRICE AND POST THEIR MAIL AT ABOUT THE SAME DISCOUNT.

ANOTHER LUCRATIVE FIELD FOR TODAY'S PIRATES IS THE NEW "BETTING THEATRES", SOME ALSO LOCATED IN NORTHERN WASHINGTON. THEY ALLOW REAL- TIME BETTING BASED ON THE THOROUGHBRED RACING AT THE WASHINGTON TRACK. THE RACES AND WHOLE RACETRACK "COLOR" IS DISPLAYED ON THEATRE SCREENS IN "PIRATE DENS", AS THEY WOULD BE CALLED WERE THEY LOCATED A FEW MILES FURTHER NORTH.

MUCH OF THE APPARENT SUPPORT FOR THE PROPOSED CANADIAN/AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT MAY BE BASED ON THE SUBCONSCIOUS APPEAL IN MANY INDIVIDUALS TO DO THEIR SMALL BIT IN PLAYING "PIRATE" AGAINST THE ESTABLISHMENT.

WHEN THE FREE TRADE AGREMENT IS PASSED, ARTIFICIAL SUPPORTS, LONG- RECOGNIZED AS UNSUPPORTABLE IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY, WILL VANISH. THE SHOPPING PIRATE WILL BECOME LEGITIMATE ONCE MORE. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT RULED THAT HOME VIDEOTAPING IS LEGAL. AN EVEN MORE SHOCKING RULING -- TO THE MOVIE ESTABLISHMENT -- HAS JUST BEEN MADE IN PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA. THERE A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT RULED THAT HOTEL OWNER KEN IRWIN OF LA MANCHA VILLAS, COULD SHOW VIDEO DISC MOVIES IN HIS RENTED ROOMS OR VILLAS TO GUESTS LEGALLY FROM NOW ON. THE COURT POINTED OUT THAT THIS WAS THEIR LEGAL, ALBEIT TEMPORARY, RESIDENCE. A PRECEDENT HAD ALREADY BEEN SET IN THE U.S. IN THE NOW-FAMOUS SONY BETAMAX CASE WHICH INVOLVED VIDEOCASSETTES. NATURALLY, FILM INDUSTRY MAGNATES CRIED "PIRATE".

TO HAVE EFFECTIVE CHANGE PIRATES ARE NEEDED. FIRST, TO SHOW THAT ALTERNATIVES EXIST, AND SECONDLY, TO DEMONSTRATE THAT UNLESS EFFECTIVE CHANGE DOES TAKE PLACE. THE TURBULENCE AND INSTABILITY CREATED BY AN INCREASING NUMBER OF "PIRATES" WILL CONTINUE. MANY NEW AND UNDREAMED OF POSSIBILITIES WILL SURFACE. UNABLE TO GET A LICENSE TO MARKET MILK, SOME FARMERS WILL TURN TO GENETIC ENGINEERING. SOON A "DRUG FARMER" WILL BE ABLE TO PRODUCE, FROM A GENETICALLY-ENGINEERED COW, MILK THAT CONTAINS VARIOUS DRUGS AND HORMONES. THE CONTENTS OF THIS NEW "MILK", OUTSIDE OF MILK MARKETING BOARD CONTROL, THEN BECOME THE PRODUCT.

THESE NEW "FARMERS" CAN THROW AWAY THE MILK, AS THAT IS NOT WHERE REVENUES ARE OBTAINED. SUCH ACTIONS WILL DEMONSTRATE THAT MILK IS ABSURDLY OVER-PRICED AND MARKETING BOARDS WILL EVENTUALLY COLLAPSE OR BE ERADICATED BY GOVERNMENTS FORCED TO SEE THE LIGHT OF A NEW AGE. AS THE CHINESE SAY, "THESE ARE INTERESTING TIMES".

HISTORY REVEALS A FEW LESSONS. WHEN HENRY MORGAN BECAME AN UNCON- TROLLABLE NUISANCE AS A PIRATE, HE WAS KNIGHTED BY CHARLES II IN 1674 AND MADE THE GOVERNOR OF JAMAICA. MORAL: TODAY'S "PIRATE" MAY BECOME TOMORROW'S GOVERNOR. IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING ENVIRONMENT THE BIZARRE BECOMES ACCEPTABLE.

* * *

< previous | chapter index | next >
back to Main Chapter Listing
back to Home Page