Pirates of the Crabby-Ribean and Other Tales

I think the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies were mostly ridiculous. First of all, don’t bother watching any more than the first movie if you’re going to watch them. Even so, maybe that one’s far too much.

Secondly, don’t think for one moment that piracy is cute, glorious, or romantic as it is made out to be by Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, or Keira Knightley.

On the east coast I have visited museums that feature the stories of pirates. I even went on a “ghost” tour in Beaufort, North Carolina, where you can see a home that “Blackbeard” apparently once lived in.

Certainly, learning about some of these pirates is interesting stuff, but if there’s one thing you should learn about pirates is that they were, and still are, nasty people. They are not Robin Hoods, giving back to the innocent, but generally they prey on the innocent, as you may have learned in the Somali pirate situation this past week.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,514822,00.html

Finally, navy seals sniped the pirates holding Captain Richard Phillips, and rescuing him. Phillips deserves a lot of praise for saving his own crew from having to deal with the pirates. And the seals are incredible heroes. Job well done to those guys!

In international law, apparently there has been a classification reserved for pirates in the past, and it should be maintained (if it hasn't already been scrapped): they are considered enemies of humanity.

In terms of President Obama, though you may disagree with how much credit he deserves, one thing should be pointed out. At least he allowed the seals to do what needed to be done in order to rescue the captain. Thank goodness he allowed deadly force against the pirates, especially when the captain was in danger.

In the meantime, talk of pirates as “criminals” should be disregarded. They are and always have been enemies of humanity.

Here is what should be done with pirates in the future as has been done in the past:

1. If they hold hostages, whatever is necessary should be done to get the hostages back. In the meantime though, we have to recognize that not all hostages may make it. This is the offer that should be made: release the hostages or die. If a hostage is killed, pirates should know that they will most certainly meet their demise.

2. Pirates should learn that in no uncertain terms they may meet a brutal demise should they continue in their ways (get out of the pirate business or die), but also that crews of law-abiding ships can and will sink their precious vessels at will. All pirate ships should be cleared of the vermin and sunk, or returned to their rightful owners if they were stolen.

3. Finally, not only should crews of law-abiding ships not be punished for taking out pirates and their ships, but they should be praised and rewarded for relieving the world of these enemies of humanity.

April 15, addendum:

There's one problem here. Many international ports will not allow civilian ships to come to port if there are weapons on board. Some ships do hire security forces, but this might subject the entire ship to a search. Therefore, my terms, "crews of law-abiding ships" may have to be changed to "navies" for now, as an armed civilian ship might not be a "law-abiding" one in certain instances. Alas, policing will probably have to remain to the navies of the world. However, I think navies should just sink as many as they want.

Original article continued:

Blackbeard’s historical demise should serve as a warning on the fate of all pirates. When Blackbeard was killed, his head was severed and hung from the bow of a ship. Later his head was reportedly placed on a pike on land as due-warning to anyone who might take up the life of the pirate.

Honestly, unless you go into pirate waters, it is likely that you will never ever have to worry about them. It is a minutely small percentage of people that ever have experiences with them.

But in the meantime, as far as pirates go, colorful as history may be, open season on pirates and piracy is to the benefit of all mankind, for pirates willingly make themselves mankind’s enemy. In the meantime, Navy seals rock!