TPB and similar organizations exemplify the “civil disobedience” aspect of why the thuggery of the RIAA/MPAA won’t work. It CAN’T work, because, to put it bluntly, if you push people around enough, SOMEBODY is gonna push back.
The “backlash” is taking many forms:

1. The development of p2p technology
2. The increasing skepticism about “Intellectual property” in general
3. The rise in remix-culture.
4. Increasing worries over cronyism between corporations and governments, of which the present state of IP law is merely one symptom.)

These issues are WAY bigger than the RIAA strawman notion that it’s just “greedy slacker teenagers” with a “faulty moral compass”.

“TPB and the various “pirate parties” springing up in many countries are engaged in what linguists call “reclaiming”: taking a word which was originally intended to be pejorative and using it instead as a “badge of honor”.”

This is exactly where I was going with my previous remark about TPB.
Nicely put, too!

As far as “sheeple” goes…
It bears the same quality as any of those invented rag media contractions, in that, it only appeals to those who become fascinated with such low-level attempts at creativity. I’d like to see it get buried, along with “Bennifer”, “Brangelina”….

Scheel: That’s my new favorite sentence-construction from now on.

“Awesome tautologies are awesomely tautological.”

Devils/Mostly:
1. The RIAA/MPAA scumbags came up with the term “pirate” as part of the same disinformation campaign which has evidently sucked “Sam I am’s” brain right out of his head. They want desperately to portray all forms of IP as “fundamental human rights”, and dismiss any skepticism — or historical evidence — against that line as “totally beside the point” or “rationalizations for selfish anarchy” or suchlike.

TPB and the various “pirate parties” springing up in many countries are engaged in what linguists call “reclaiming”: taking a word which was originally intended to be pejorative and using it instead as a “badge of honor”.

About the word “sheeple”:
yes, it’s descriptive, but, unfortunately, it’s way too “easy” of a word — it’s been bandied about for way too long, and by way too many pundits on all sides of the ideological spectrum, that it’s become just another code-word intended to shut down discussion.

Just like — for example — accusing somebody of being an “anarchist” or “Commie.”

Anyways, I can confirm the validity of this article. Me and my journalism teacher talked about it for a few minutes. Awesome headlines are awesome.

I would like to think that, too, and I am Canadian.
Unfortunately, I know differently.

YMMV

SRG

Someone should call The Pirate Bay!
If they only knew what the word meant, before choosing their name!…