Why People Are Not Impressed with Modern Piracy

You would have seen a large number of people wearing the medieval pirate clothing in the present scenario, but have you ever seen anyone putting on the costumes of the modern raiders? Of course not, as the lifestyles of the modern raiders were not as romantic as they were of the medieval freebooters. It doesn’t mean that the medieval freebooters were the saints. For sure, they were also the ruthless people, who would loot the ships of innocent merchants.

But, their bravery, treasure hunt and the clothing style is subject of fascination among the people of today. The pirate shirts, pants and skirts etc., worn by them are unique and are the fashion-statements in the recent times. Various Hollywood styles, like the style of Captain Jack Sparrow of “Pirates of the Caribbean” add new flavor to these raiders’ dresses.  On the other hand, there is nothing special in the costumes of the present day raiders who come from Somalia and Sumatra. They wear the ordinary dresses, and looting the treasure ships is their sole purpose.

Besides, the medieval freebooters would live the sailor-like lifestyle. They had a crew and a captain and had their own rules. Today’s raiders may also have the captains and the crews, but the common man has no proper information about these pirates. So, there is no question of getting impressed with them.
Another facet of the medieval piracy that influences the people of the modern times is its romanticized version in films and our sources of entertainment. We have already mentioned about “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series above. On the other hand, various pirate games are also available, which take us to the golden era of piracy. We can be part of raiders’ lifestyles virtually by playing those games. On the other hand, the modern raiders are mostly displayed as villains in the films.

One more thing that does not attract us towards the modern piracy is the problems that people are facing through it. People might not have fascination towards medieval piracy in its own era. Moreover, today the piracy cannot flourish in the same way as it was in the medieval times. However, we hear the stories of beheading the raiders in the medieval era also, but capturing or killing the raiders today is much easier than before due to the advanced technologies of the weapons. Many of the nations have joined hands to combat the freebooters. So, the number of pirates is very less today as compared to the past, when there were 5500 raiders in the western world, and 7000 raiders in China. In that case, the scope of getting impressed from freebooting is also very low.

Probably, these are the factors, which differentiate the medieval raiders with modern pirates. The modern freebooters’ lifestyles cannot compete with pirate clothing and lifestyles of the medieval era.