next »

[John Sandoval]

I know that. What political party would hope to gain traction with a name like that?

[C.A. Sinner]

I know that. What political party would hope to gain traction with a name like that?

the pirate parties are doing rather well in germany and other places in europe at the moment.

[Christian Knudsen]

Yeah, the Swedish one actually has a seat in parliament. I'd call that traction.

[Schoq]

Yeah, the Swedish one actually has a seat in parliament. I'd call that traction.

Two seats, and in the European parliament, not national.

[Christian Knudsen]

Oh, my mistake. But according to Wikipedia it's just one seat in the EU?

[John Sandoval]

Hrm. I dunno, I just don't feel that 'pirate' is an appropriate name for a political party. I've got too many silly connotations associated with the word (curse you spongebob squarepants).

[Nillo]

We want to reclaim the word and turn it into something positive. Something like Captain Jack Sparrow, if you know what I mean? And it's more catchy than anything else we could have used for a name - "Anti-Copyright Party" just doesn't have a nice ring to it.

Not everything has to be super serious all the time. The fact that the Pirate Party has a sense of humor is part of what made me join them in the first place.

[Schoq]

Oh, my mistake. But according to Wikipedia it's just one seat in the EU?

Two since the Lisbon Treaty.

[Christian Knudsen]

Cool. Thanks.

[dEnamed]

Not everything has to be super serious all the time. The fact that the Pirate Party has a sense of humor is part of what made me join them in the first place.

Agreed. To a degree.
Although they've lost my vote when they put the "Ponytime" paragraph into their rules of procedures (potentially the wrong word - and potentially that paragraph is german exclusive, not sure). It essentially allows someone to enforce a whole episode of the pink pony bullshit on their fellow party members. Seriously? What the fuck? Not even remotely funny and highly annoying.

[Nillo]

Although they've lost my vote when they put the "Ponytime" paragraph into their rules of procedures (potentially the wrong word - and potentially that paragraph is german exclusive, not sure). It essentially allows someone to enforce a whole episode of the pink pony bullshit on their fellow party members. Seriously? What the fuck? Not even remotely funny and highly annoying.

That must be related to the German Pirate Party, because I've never heard of it before. 

From what I've gathered, the rules state that any member of the Berlin Pirates may place a request for "Pony Time" during a meeting, and all present members will place a vote for or against "Pony Time". If the majority is in favor, "Pony Time" begins and the group will watch one of the episodes of the cartoon.

I don't think this is a big deal. Assuming that what I heard is true, the majority has to be in favor for "Pony Time" to actually commence. And even if you're one of the few people present in the meeting who doesn't like to watch My Little Pony, surely you can find it in your heart to let your fellow members have their twenty minutes of entertainment?

[Tumetsu]

Hrm. I dunno, I just don't feel that 'pirate' is an appropriate name for a political party. I've got too many silly connotations associated with the word (curse you spongebob squarepants).

Well, spongebob squarepants haven't harmed politics before either, at least according to first round of Finland's president elections:

For those who don't know, Spongebob squarepants's name in Finland is "Paavo Pesusieni" and page is translated with google translator...

About the pirate party, well it has gained some following around Europe. But they are pretty much "one thing party" (copyright) so it is questionable if they will get enough power to affect anything. I wouldn't vote party just because of their stance on copyright law, I would require them to have positions with other important things too. This hasn't been case in Finland so far AFAIK.

[Christian Knudsen]

Although they've lost my vote when they put the "Ponytime" paragraph into their rules of procedures (potentially the wrong word - and potentially that paragraph is german exclusive, not sure). It essentially allows someone to enforce a whole episode of the pink pony bullshit on their fellow party members. Seriously? What the fuck? Not even remotely funny and highly annoying.

That must be related to the German Pirate Party, because I've never heard of it before. 

From what I've gathered, the rules state that any member of the Berlin Pirates may place a request for "Pony Time" during a meeting, and all present members will place a vote for or against "Pony Time". If the majority is in favor, "Pony Time" begins and the group will watch one of the episodes of the cartoon.

I don't think this is a big deal. Assuming that what I heard is true, the majority has to be in favor for "Pony Time" to actually commence. And even if you're one of the few people present in the meeting who doesn't like to watch My Little Pony, surely you can find it in your heart to let your fellow members have their twenty minutes of entertainment?

This is a Monty Python sketch. This must be a Monty Python sketch.

[Nillo]

The Pirate Party [should have an opinion about everything]

I strongly disagree with this point of view, but I guess it's just a matter of personal preference, as always.

I wouldn't feel as confident in my decision to vote for the Pirate Party if they took a stand on every issue that landed on their table. Inevitably, I would disagree with the party about some things. It opens up the possibility of them doing things I don't want them to do.

Have you ever felt that you were completely in agreement with a political party? I have only had this feeling once, and it was when I discovered the Pirate Party. I know exactly what the Pirate Party stands for. I know what they're going to try to do if they win seats; they're not going to bend over as soon as money is thrown their way like most other representatives do.

Here in Sweden, I've seen a number of other parties suddenly get much more reasonable about copyright laws once they saw that our Pirate Party had a chance of getting into parliament. I think this is a sign that we have succeeded; we are bringing about societal change. However, unlike the other parties, our opinion about copyright laws is engraved upon our very essence. So by voting for the Pirate Party, I am sure that they will try to reform copyright law. The same can not be said of any other party; after all, if they were so quick to change their opinions and become pirate-friendly, what prevents them from changing their opinions back again as soon as the opportunity presents itself?

[Tumetsu]

@Nillo
I didn't say that party has to have definite opinion of everything. Just that they should have available and if possible informed opinion of important national topics. Yes, they would probably handle copyright issues fine but how about serious economic questions, environment legislation, NATO etc.?  

Because they don't have (and probably can't have since they are all concerned about mainly copyright) definite stances on other important topics, makes them hard to get decent amount of votes. They may get some people in, but it may not be enough to make any difference even in copyright issues (if other larger parties in power favor current legislation). And if they get enough people in to make some real changes, this comes up:

I wouldn't feel as confident in my decision to vote for the Pirate Party if they took a stand on every issue that landed on their table. Inevitably, I would disagree with the party about some things. It opens up the possibility of them doing things I don't want them to do.

I feel same, and pirate party have to be part of other decision making too. Since they don't have definite opinions on other aspects than copyright, I can't be sure what they will do with other those decisions (which I might not like).

In short I would vote them if I had to vote members for "copyright legislation parliament" or some other imaginary council which would decide how copyright legislation is made. I support their cause. Right now though I try to vote for a party which I think would lead my country best as a whole. Yes, I have to make compromises since I don't agree exactly with any of parties. However, the ratio of good&bad(or simply unknown, as in this case) seems to me be against for pirate party (here in Finland). If I know the positive and negative aspects of party, I can make informed choice. With pirate party lot of their opinions for important topics are still unknown to me at least. I simply don't trust them enough yet to give them much other things to handle than copyright legislation. This may change in future and I'll vote accordingly

And even shorter: I think pirate party has informed opinion on copyright issues, but running a country needs informed opinions with many other topics too. So far I haven't been convinced by PP's ability to handle them.