Here it is, cats and kittens! The definitive* list of rhetorical commonplaces swirling around "pirate." A conceptual map/topography will appear soon-ish, but it is currently more in the "different-colored-shapes-and-arrows-on-a-white-board-in-an-undisclosed-location-on-the-AU-campus" stage of development. So without further ado, we give you:
THE LIST!
The pirate as ...
1. uncivilized, savage, lawless (modern version: piracy as a result of weak or failed states)
2. evil, sinner, against divine law
3. hostis humani generis/enemy of all mankind
a. active form (pirates declare themselves as such)
b. passive form (pirates declared as such by others)
4. Romantic protagonist
5. fictional villain
a. really actually very evil (PG-13, R)
b. Capt. Hook (PG, G)
6. practical (not moral) problem
a. strictly legal
b. negative externality as relates to trade and commerce
7. cool, edgy (Jack Sparrow, ambiguous morality)
8. absolutely harmless (Sesame Street fare)
9. tool of nationalism
a. hero (English, American, French)
b. villain (Spanish, English, American)
10. (inter)national security threat (pirate-terrorist conceptual nexus)
11. Goth/counter-culture symbol
12. libertarian wet dream
13. sex symbol
14. temporally/spatially distanced from the here and now
15. excessively violent actor (torture, murder, rape, etc.)
The list is in no particular order. It is worth noting that Catherine and I have adopted the numbers as shorthand for these commonplaces. Our conversations these days sound like this:
"There's definitely some '1' in this trial transcript, don't you think?"
"Yeah, plus that's an explicit reference to '3b' in the second paragraph."
"Sure but it's refuted by a deployment of '6a'."
"Beautiful! That explains the odd lack of '15' except by negation."
*ha. But we do have a considerable and comprehensive if not completely exhaustive amount of empirical and original archival research to back up this list.
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