A 6-year-old boy I know loves pirates: the sword, the hat, the eye-patch, the adventures, the action figures, the movies, the parrot, the hook, the lore. For years now, his birthday party theme has been pirates, pirates and more pirates (that's when it wasn't Star Wars, but that's a different blog post). How cute. I never really thought much more about this pirate obsession than whether he'd accidentally poke someone with the plastic sword.
Then, in recent weeks Somali pirates -- REAL pirates, the hardened criminals who've used automatic weapons, grenade launchers and explosives to hijack more than 100 ships worldwide in 2008 -- began to draw bigger headlines as they boarded arms-laden ships and civilian cruise vessels. Ships that traverse the ocean trade routes between Europe, South America, Africa and Asia (particularly off the African coast) have become easy prey to fearless criminals who are not afraid to kidnap, steal, extort and murder, with one goal in mind: money.
The horrific, real-life crimes of these audacious thugs make it almost impossible to reconcile the American pop culture brand identity of pirates as almost-cute, adventuresome and admirable characters. This romantic image of pirates has endured for generations, fueled by Disney and other entertainment and toy companies that create the stories, the movies, the gear and the toys that appeal to children and adults looking to try on a counter-culture identity.
I'm sure it has occurred to deep-thinkers that romanticizing old-style pirates is outrageous, given that pirates of earlier days were the most notorious criminals of their day. But somehow, yesteryear's pirates have become lovable heroes. I offer Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" as exhibit A and "Peter Pan" as exhibit B.
Think about it: would anyone really condone it if their children regularly dressed up as and pretended to act like modern-day serial killers, rapists and kidnappers? The thought is appalling.
I broached this topic with my 6-year-old pirate friend's mother. She is a deep thinker and confessed that the whole pirate infatuation has bothered her for a long time. "Believe me, I've read about every pirate book that's out there," she said. "And, let's not even talk about how they treated women. Where were the women pirates?"
With a 6-year-old pirate wannabe you can hope he grows out of the pirate stage quickly and later in life realizes that pirates were not and are not nice people to be emulated. But how do you stop the powerful pirate brand in American society? Whatever the current state of our economy, America has shown the world its infinite power to build consumer brands. Today's terrorism at the hands of modern-day pirate criminals should make us think twice about the falsehood of good-guy pirates and how we portray them to children.
Then, in recent weeks Somali pirates -- REAL pirates, the hardened criminals who've used automatic weapons, grenade launchers and explosives to hijack more than 100 ships worldwide in 2008 -- began to draw bigger headlines as they boarded arms-laden ships and civilian cruise vessels. Ships that traverse the ocean trade routes between Europe, South America, Africa and Asia (particularly off the African coast) have become easy prey to fearless criminals who are not afraid to kidnap, steal, extort and murder, with one goal in mind: money.
The horrific, real-life crimes of these audacious thugs make it almost impossible to reconcile the American pop culture brand identity of pirates as almost-cute, adventuresome and admirable characters. This romantic image of pirates has endured for generations, fueled by Disney and other entertainment and toy companies that create the stories, the movies, the gear and the toys that appeal to children and adults looking to try on a counter-culture identity.
I'm sure it has occurred to deep-thinkers that romanticizing old-style pirates is outrageous, given that pirates of earlier days were the most notorious criminals of their day. But somehow, yesteryear's pirates have become lovable heroes. I offer Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" as exhibit A and "Peter Pan" as exhibit B.
Think about it: would anyone really condone it if their children regularly dressed up as and pretended to act like modern-day serial killers, rapists and kidnappers? The thought is appalling.
I broached this topic with my 6-year-old pirate friend's mother. She is a deep thinker and confessed that the whole pirate infatuation has bothered her for a long time. "Believe me, I've read about every pirate book that's out there," she said. "And, let's not even talk about how they treated women. Where were the women pirates?"
With a 6-year-old pirate wannabe you can hope he grows out of the pirate stage quickly and later in life realizes that pirates were not and are not nice people to be emulated. But how do you stop the powerful pirate brand in American society? Whatever the current state of our economy, America has shown the world its infinite power to build consumer brands. Today's terrorism at the hands of modern-day pirate criminals should make us think twice about the falsehood of good-guy pirates and how we portray them to children.
