Pirates

Piracy is back baby.
There has been a lot of talk in the news this week about the Somali Pirates who are currently holding 16 ships and more than 300 crew members hostage off the coast of Africa. The word “Pirate” carries somewhat whimsical connotations, since it’s almost impossible to separate the term from it’s historical context (note the “Jolly Roger” in this Associate Press article). These days Pirates are beloved, familiar characters, closely associated with wonderful things like Peter Pan, Johnny Depp, corsets and cheap rum. Pirate appreciation is firmly ingrained in our culture and I’ve seen more Pirate costumes and theme parties than I’d care to remember.
Given this, I think it’s time to retire the word “Pirate” as the technical term for modern day acts of violence at sea; there are just too many adorable associations. We’re talking about a bunch of desperate murders and thieves with guns, they just happen to travel by boat. However when I hear “Pirate,” I get an image in my head very much like the one above. This feels highly inappropriate considering the seriousness of the situation, and I move that from now on we try to avoid using the word outside of it’s historical and mythical meaning.
I can think of no other instance in which a crime carries such a loaded label due to it’s context, instantly casting the criminals as cute cultural caricatures.
When someone shoots up a bar in Dallas we don’t respond with “Ah yes. Cowboys.”
When someone is beaten to death in Japan, we don’t necessarily attribute it to Ninjas.