My mother's Catholic church group pirates The Passion

[Moloko_Plus]

(Rather interesting article i pulled off my RSS feeds from newstrove.com explaining how a young man obtained an excellent quality dvd of the passion of the christ from a catholic church..This should actually scare the MPAA idiots who are reading this right now. Read on Idiots)

http://www.easterneronline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/05/19/40ac5c459f6fc

"Burning" our ethics in the fire of piracy

By Curtis Campbell/Assistant Editor
May 19, 2004


Irony manifests itself for us in many different forms. The form it took last week was a bootlegged DVD of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” This may not seem that ironic, but it gets better.

A friend of mine, who shall remain anonymous with regards to this subject, let it be known that he was in possession of a pirated copy of “The Passion of the Christ.”

It seemed a bit humorous to think that someone would actually essentially steal a movie about Jesus Christ. But, it became outright hilarious, as well as ironic, when I pressed him for the origin of the DVD and he said “my mother’s Catholic church group.”

I guess I had hastily assumed bootleggers resembled the shady little character from that “Seinfeld” episode, not old ladies toting around canes and rosaries.

At first I had thought that he was joking, but he assured me his mother’s church group had actually bootlegged and distributed this “holy” movie. Apparently all means are necessary when spreading the word of God, even if it breaks one of the “Ten Commandments.”

If only God had ellaborated more upon the eighth Commandment by saying “Thou shall not steal, nor bootleg CDs and DVDs.”

This got me thinking about how we try to rationalize our actions when we do something unethical or illegal as a way to fend off guilt.

I have no doubt that the women of the church group rationalized committing the crime of movie piracy by making themselves believe that they were merely bringing people closer to God; that is unless they are part of a complex underground network of old church ladies that sell pirated movies on the black market. In any case, simply rationalizing something does not change the fact that it is wrong.

I even rationalized to myself borrowing and watching the movie “research” for this column. By the way, the quality was outstanding. They may only bootleg “special” movies, but this church group sure knows how to produce a high quality product; they even went to the extent of adding spanish subtitles.

Being college students, most of us have, at one time or another rationalized the downloading of copyrighted music. We diminish our feelings of guilt by telling ourselves that “it’s no big deal; they have tons of money,” or “everybody else does it.”

These simple rationalizations somehow make us feel that our actions, in some way, are justified. But this does not change the fact that, in effect, we are stealing.

I am sure that most of us would not go into a Wal-Mart and steal a CD or DVD. So this begs the question: why is it acceptable to download CDs and DVDs onto our home computers to burn a disc?

Despite somehow becoming socially acceptable to do so, downloading or “burning” music, movies or software continues to be unethical and illegal. It bears no difference what the intention or rationalization may be. It is still taking what someone else created without compensating the artist who created it.

[flaninacupboard]

That's great! if i knew the people involved i would take the evidence to the MPAA personally and call every newspaper i could. I would laugh so much when they refuse to do anything

[pyscrow]

God obviously told them to do it!
Doesn't the USofA recognise God as a higher authority than the state? that means it is not piracy, they got permission from a higher authority!

[VCDHunter]

Quality

Nail em up I say

[BJ_M]

Quality

Nail em up I say

LMAO

[gitreel]

Piracy is murder and looting on the high seas. People need to stop confusing that with p2p.

[flaninacupboard]

as times change so do definitions of words......

[bugster]

Piracy is murder and looting on the high seas. People need to stop confusing that with p2p.

Who mentioned p2p?
(before you and me that is)

[indolikaa]

Beware old ladies toting canes and Rosary beads.

[The village idiot]

OT but similar...

I always chuckle when I see religous things being bootlegged on the internet. Those really faithful people have no problems sending their bootlegged religous items on the net. Really strange. And the law enfarcement people want you to think that only low life scum bags will steal someone's property and distribute it on the 'net. A welcome to The Association of Low Life Scumbags (ALLS) going out to all you god fearing, thieving MoFo's out there.

[andkiich]

Beware old ladies toting canes and Rosary beads.

Beware Hell's Grannies!!!

[wings]

It depends what the definition on "is" is.

[Gazorgan]

I would like to point out the 100's if not over 1000 church groups hired out entire theaters to show the movie. In my state a church group had 12 screens going on opening day (the theater borrowed prints from other theaters, since it was a 9 am showing on a wednesday). Given a standard devation, I can say with a certainty that at lest 1/4 of the projectionists involved were among the church goers. n Therefore, it would have been a simple thing to sneak in a digital camera (which is a felony in my state).

Never assume it was P2P, when in fact it was most like a DV cam in the projectionist booth.

Now me, I would have put in a leader with Mel's address to send the $9.00.......oh wait, that was The Passion of the Jew (SouthPark Season 8 Episode #3)......wrong movie :P

[flaninacupboard]

that episode really cracked me up, crazy mel gibson driving that truck

[satviewer2000]

I have no problems with God ... it's his damn fan club I can't stand.

[D.A.R.J.R.]

Would you go to jail for that or hell? Will there need to be a change to the bible? "Thou shalt not steal holy movies before the release date"

[Mr anderson]

man im still my head off! its like that sweet old lady from dumb & dumber, its something it would not look out for in an old lady ( or even a person whom goes to church?), but i guess they wanted to spread the word about god ( why did'nt they just put on a video day & play sister act 1 & 2 ).

[teegee420]

This story sort of reminds me of a thread I saw in one of the binary newsgroups a while back. Someone was questioning the hypocrisy of uploading a pirated bible study program. Apparently some people draw the line when it comes to religious warez. One would think a church might. :P

[indolikaa]

videohelp.com. It's OK to talk about copying DVDs. But you're still going to hell for it anyway.

[Mr anderson]

teegee420 man, you know that image you with the girl swinging that thing around, where is it from

[MrShavez]

Image=Kill Billl vol 1.

O Ren Ishii´s minion...

[haloblack]

O Ren Ishii´s minion...

GoGo, played by Chiaki Kuriyama.

[Headbanger's Ball]

OK, Now I am VERY suspicious of the nun with eye-patch at the Holy Blackbeard Parish!!

[vrieze42]

Just thought I'd comment on a couple of points. One said "Doesn't the USofA recognise God as a higher authority than the state? that means it is not piracy, they got permission from a higher authority!" The US does not recognize God as a higher authority. An individual or church body might but the Federal, State and local levels of government do not. Also lest we forget Jesus did round up a pretty motley group of individuals to make disciples out of one of whom even sold him out. So be a little tolerant of the old ladies, every group has some good and every group has some bad. By the way guess which church leader used to sell cyanide to the Nazis during WW2? Hint type cyanide and pope into your favorite search engine and see what you get. That being said I have to agree that It's rather ironic that a religious movie is making piracy news.

[flaninacupboard]

then what's all the
"as god is my witness"
"this is gods' country"
"god bless america"

crap about?

[indolikaa]

You know, I don't think you could pick a more sensitive subject to discuss with Americans, flan.

Well, except for abortion, or gay marriage. Those two might outdo 'God and Country' in today's political climate...

[flaninacupboard]

it just seems a bit weird when government and god go together

"It is my God Given right as an American"
So, you're special because God made you or because you're American? anyone know if you have to make any vows to god when you become a US citizen?

And gay marriage is no big deal, you already allowed it in one state, all the others will follow suit.

[indolikaa]

it just seems a bit weird when government and god go together

"It is my God Given right as an American"
So, you're special because God made you or because you're American? anyone know if you have to make any vows to god when you become a US citizen?

And gay marriage is no big deal, you already allowed it in one state, all the others will follow suit.

Ah! See, there's where the misconception begins.

In the United States, it ain't official until the US Supreme Court says it is. Period. The only authority that can overrule the Supreme Court is the an amendment to the US Constitution. And that takes a shitload of support from the voters, the States, and the Congress.

There is a lawsuit working its way up through the California courts challenging gay marriage. It will be eventually heard by the California Supreme Court. Once they rule, it will be appealed to the US courts, working its way through the 9th Circuit court in San Francisco to the US Supreme Court. I can guarantee it. I'd bet a lot of money on it. This issue WILL be decided by the Big Judges in Washington.

The United States was founded by men who believed its creation was destined by God. Revisionist historians have tried for decades to prove otherwise, but the fact remains. Is the founding of a nation based on the belief in divine intervention a good thing?

Let me give you my standard speech about the Islamic Republic of Iran.


That oughta about lock this thread up.

[flaninacupboard]

in said supreme court do people have to swear on the bible........

[indolikaa]

That's a good question. I didn't when I testified in a court case about 10 years ago...


You still want to hear about Iran?