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<blockquote data-quote="Philosopher" data-source="post: 5316242" data-attributes="member: 76803">Make no mistake - those pirates were bad people who did bad things. They certainly benefited from some of the claims they made about themselves. But there are a few points to keep in mind. First, a desire for plunder is not incompatible with patriotic feelings. Second, a rebellion against injustice could very well arise out of self-interest. In fact, historical movements against injustice have rarely, if ever, been concerned with justice for all - they've been reactions to very specific social contexts. My only point was that some (not necessarily all) pirates probably did feel that they were fighting for something. For some, it may have been nothing more than a protest against the incredibly poor living conditions of sailors in the navy.But I am no expert on the history of piracy, so I won't push the point further (beyond clarifying what I initially meant, as in this post). After all, the OP was probably referring to the standard stereotype of pirates, especially as found in fantasy. This isn't a bad thing, given that these boards are devoted to FRPGs. For that reason, the details of actual history may not matter - I only brought them up to indicate that even the pirates of our fantasy worlds need not be a monolithic group.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Philosopher, post: 5316242, member: 76803"] Make no mistake - those pirates were bad people who did bad things. They certainly benefited from some of the claims they made about themselves. But there are a few points to keep in mind. First, a desire for plunder is not incompatible with patriotic feelings. Second, a rebellion against injustice could very well arise out of self-interest. In fact, historical movements against injustice have rarely, if ever, been concerned with justice for all - they've been reactions to very specific social contexts. My only point was that some (not necessarily all) pirates probably did feel that they were fighting for something. For some, it may have been nothing more than a protest against the incredibly poor living conditions of sailors in the navy. But I am no expert on the history of piracy, so I won't push the point further (beyond clarifying what I initially meant, as in this post). After all, the OP was probably referring to the standard stereotype of pirates, especially as found in fantasy. This isn't a bad thing, given that these boards are devoted to FRPGs. For that reason, the details of actual history may not matter - I only brought them up to indicate that even the pirates of our fantasy worlds need not be a monolithic group. [/QUOTE]

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