Why have pirates been romanticised?

[Keunert]

the same happened to this Robin Hood thug. my local priest even told me once that time will turn Hitler into a saint.

[bob48]

i thinks that farmers bob

and people from Ipswich  ;)

i thought we'd sorted this out!!!

I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks matey. :)

just teasin' - you know how heartily i defended Francis Drake!

Avast behind?

[Jack Nastyface]

Pirates (along with western gunslingers, the highwayman, the prohibition gangster, etc) have been and will probably continue to be romanticised because they offer an intellectual and emotional escape from the existential limitations of the social contract that we tacitly agree to by being contributing members of a society.

In other words..society by necessity forces uniformity and therefore anonimty upon us.  Get an education; get a job; get a family; follow the rules; etc.  It is easy for the individual (and individuality) to get lost in all this.  The lure of these counter-culture figures is that they almost always:  1)  a break away from society and its rules  2) create or join of a new society or social group that has its own rules that are (mythically) based on honor, ritual, accomplishment, etc  3) become heroic by doing things that need to be done (righting wrongs, supporting the common man, etc) by living outside of laws or accepted social conventions, 4) evade justice, capture or the return to society through native wit or guile or unorthodoxy.  On the small scale, these principles even apply to things to urban kids who "tag" traincars with spray paint: "I exist.  I am prolific / artistic, therefore I matter".

Of course, the above examples are cultural extremes, as these groups operate outside the laws of society (irrespective as to whether those laws are good or bad).  However, "identity through uniquness" is also applied to many select groups that live within bounds of society.  World War I fighter pilots were regarded as a breed apart from their trench-bound comrades.  The USMC and various elite forces use similar "same but different, or different and better" themes to build identity and esprit de corps.  In fact, on the microcosm of a US aircraft carrier, EVERY single operational group believes they are the critical link of the mission (can't leave port if the engines don't run; can't sail across the ocean if people can't eat; can't fly planes if they don't have fuel; can't win a war if you don't have bombs; supply controls everything; etc).

Given this framework, I think we tend to overlook the reality of these subcultures and focus only on those aspects that speak to our own existential angst or dilema.

[besilarius]

Think that the most well known edition of Treasure Island was illustrated by N.C. Wyeth.  Wyeth was fascinated by pirates, and made the illustrations rather heroic, and certainly very clean.
May have helped give the reading public a slanted view.

[GDS_Starfury]

Why have pirates been romanticised?

we've all missed the obvious answer.

wenches!

[Steelgrave]

...its about personal freedom, answering to nobody then the elected captain from the crew
(who can be overturned, if he turns out to be bad choice by the crew and left behind at an island ,  ...try to do this with the CEO and CFO of the big company you are unlucky to be one of their hundreds hire 'n fire or soon to be outsourced anyway cubical working ants)
as a pirat you live by the agreed upon rules given by the community to itself, pay no taxes, and in addition had the chance to gain a fortune ...or die trying. 
compare that with being a poor simple sailor in that times on a miltitary ship or merchant vessel ...or even beeing a working bee today   
IIRC the historic pirates also had an early kind of 'health insurance' or  'retirement plan' ... i once read that if someone lost a limb or an eye, that crewmember got some fixed sum payment in compensation for his loss .... a very 'modern' thinking in that century.

I love this answer. I believe one reason why the "anti-hero" is so big in fiction today (Breaking Bad, the Sopranos, Dexter, The Shield, Sons of Anarchy and so on) is because we yearn for that level of personal freedom and acutely feel its absence from our lives. In light of what has happened with the housing crisis, unemployment, the shrinking middle class, Big Brother everywhere, the NSA, TSA, Homeland Security, etc..... it's not difficult to relate to people who refuse to march along at their assigned position in the rat race.

But Star probably has it right. The bikers/pirates/gangsters get all the wenches. I'm over-thinking it  ;D

[DoctorQuest]

Pirates (along with western gunslingers, the highwayman, the prohibition gangster, etc) have been and will probably continue to be romanticised because they offer an intellectual and emotional escape from the existential limitations of the social contract that we tacitly agree to by being contributing members of a society.

Tru dat.

[GDS_Starfury]

where else are ya gonna find a discussion on the existentialist nature of piracy?

[Steelgrave]

where else are ya gonna find a discussion on the existentialist nature of piracy?

We do have it going on here, don't we?

And this from a man who's grandmother supposedly lost her innocence to Pretty Boy Floyd   :o

[LongBlade]

Why have pirates been romanticised?

we've all missed the obvious answer.

wenches!

Jack Rackham would probably agree.

[Bison]

Who the hell doesn't want to fly the Jolly Roger and sail the high seas from time to time?

[Huw the Poo]

Jack, that was a great post, thank you.  I'm sure you're right, even if it doesn't sit well with me.  I'm all for fighting The Man, but I just don't think that's what pirates were all about - although I'm sure you're right about the reasons they're viewed as cool anyway.

Who the hell doesn't want to fly the Jolly Roger and sail the high seas from time to time?

Yeah it does sound good...apart from all the murdering, and robbing people trying to make a living. :)

[GDS_Starfury]

[GDS_Starfury]

amd so there were:

[bob48]

^Where do I sign up?