Pirates

Well-known cultural referents like Jack Sparrow are not adequate depictions of what actual pirates were, and are, like.  Hollywood has a certain way of misrepresenting and sensationalizing minutia.  Normally, however, this is done in such a way that aggrandizes and makes a certain event more appealing and usually makes the ‘bad guy’ in the film seem more like a monster than he was.  Not so with pirates, for here Hollywood went the other direction.  Jack Sparrow’s wittiness, immediate likability, carefree attitude and ability to talk himself out of any situation made it far easier to empathize with pirates and their lifestyle of choice.  Real pirates – yes, there were and ARE real pirates, though today instead of swashbuckling their way to the captain they just unload their Russian manufactured weapon, an AK47, on a few crew members to show they mean business – were and ARE far worse.  Yes, there are also software pirates who make copies of computer programs for unauthorized redistribution in their parents’ basement, but this is a different flavor than the pirates that still take over cargo ships to this day.  Blackbeard, the infamous one, would light parts of his beard on fire for intimidation purposes before boarding a ship that he wished to pirate.  He would also shoot his own crew members, literally under the table and without cause, other than to establish and reassert his authority has captain.  What’s odd and intriguing, however, at least at first, but not so much if you really consider the matter (which is the case for many intriguing things and events, and that outlandish and uncommon phenomena are actually the norm becomes obvious) is that pirates had a governing code, or put another way, systematic ethics by which they abided.  In many ways, their livelihood was far more egalitarian than modern societal structures, and while the captain did get the largest portion of the booty (after all, high risk, high return), even the lowest ranking mates received a relatively fair share compared to their counterparts in factories and farms onshore.  Bringing a woman onboard or deserting the ship were considered punishable by death on most pirate ships.  The point is this:  just as pirates indefinitely ’borrowed’ the loot of other, government sanctioned ships they also had to ‘borrow’ ethics in order to maintain relative stability and order.  Even the underbelly of society must adhere to a code of ethics, which shows that the law is written on their hearts.