A Long Way (or Not) From Robert Louis Stevenson's Long John Silvers

Since the daring rescue of an abducted captain in the hands of Somali pirates the weekend past last, there continue to be attacks on merchant vessels past the Gulf of Aden into the Indian Ocean. The rescue has only led to more defiance by pirates, at least vocally, who have sworn continue attacks and "revenge" in light of the strong response by the American Navy and other naval forces.

Most pundits seem to agree that the problem is not going to go away any time soon. A lawless Somalia, vasts areas of open sea which is nearly impossible to canvas, and the tough reality that corporations are willing to pay large ransoms to save the lives of their crews have kept the pirates highly motivated in their work. There is neither the negative incentive to cease their operations, as pirates reasonably see the chances of being caught and killed as small given their past record of success evading patrols. There is also little positive incentive for them to cease as piracy is a remarkably lucrative trade which has made them heroes to their waterfront Somali communities, and wanted men in the eyes of Somali bachelorettes. The prospects of a career in science, teaching, law, or accounting seem laughable given the desolate society in which they live, so they face the rhetorical question of "give up piracy so I can do what?"

As the article above mentions, the pirates are now being confronted by foreign navies — and sometimes arrested or killed — and thus they are using more force and the danger to their hostages has increased. I fear we're going to start hearing more stories of pirates who are going to put bullets in the back of heads of captives as navies raid their ships and hideouts. As countries and companies take tougher stands, as they should, I wonder if we're going to hear news of shipping companies receiving parcels with a captive sailor's head inside.

I wonder also what this will do culturally to the view of the pirate. Piracy, at least on the open seas, is something which has been romanticized in the last thirty years or so. We have a baseball team which proudly takes it's name from that profession. The Disney company have made a series of movies with a lovable Jack Sparrow as something of a hero. On that same token, you can sit on a ride in either Disneyworld or Disneyland and glory in the pirates' life. Thousands of kids have pirate-themed birthday parties.

I wonder if over the next couple of years, as this piracy crisis gets increasingly more widespread and violent, if such certain cultural things are going to seem a little odd. Will the Pittsburgh Pirates team name seem as inappropriate as the Jacksonville Jihadists? Will the ride at the theme park seem as distasteful as sitting in a jeep ride where you get to see an animatronic thug behead a journalist? Will little Billy's birthday party have the poor taste of handing out AK-47 party favors with paper plates depicting men hog-tying terrified sailors and putting gags in their mouths?

And of course, am I going to have a complex around going to Long John's Silver's for my beloved fish and chips?