There are many reasons why, even though everyone knows downloading music is illegal, some people (maybe even lots of people) do it anyway. For the most part none of the reasons that people give for justifying committing the act are right. However when considering some ethical principles created by pioneers in mass media ethics, it is easy to see how peoples’ reasoning for downloading illegal music are at fault.
John Rawls believed in the veil of ignorance which says that justice happens when we do not think about the status of people involved or where we personally fit within the social system. Considering this ethical principle it is safe to assume that anyone who has ever illegally downloaded music has come to the conclusion that everybody is the same and the odds of them downloading a song from their favorite artist and it personally affecting that artist in anyway is slim to none. Many people who download music illegally probably have this ethical principle as a mindset.
Aristotle believed that in order to make good ethical decisions you have to find the golden mean. The golden mean is the balance between the lesser of two evils, for example when you find the balance of courage. Some people should use this principle when they are considering downloading music illegally because simply put when people download music they are taking the easy way out. Instead of purchasing a CD or a song they decide to get it for free. Finding the golden mean for this situation would be shopping around online or in stores for the lowest possible price they can pay for whatever music they want.
Immanuel Kant believed in categorical imperative which asks people to think about what would happen if every person in the world decided to commit a certain action and what would be the consequences of this. For example, adults are famous for delivering this line to teenagers during their peer pressure years: “If all of your parents jumped off a bridge, would you jump off of a bridge too?” Considering this principle it would be easy for a fan of illegally downloading music to see how it is not a good idea. If everyone decided that they never wanted to buy music anymore and instead decided to illegally download music what would happen? It is safe to assume that there would not be a music industry to steal from in the first place.
Ethical principles learned in a study of mass media ethics can help to decide how people come to certain conclusions about how to decide on things in their everyday lives. In the situation of illegally downloading music it is safe to assume that ethical principles can be used for good and for bad.
Keyanna -- this is a nicely structured post. Take another look at Rawls' veil of ignorance ethic: He'd say that if you wouldn't steal from your Mom, and you wouldn't steal from your roommate, you shouldn't steal from Kanye West. He'd say the principle of the act needs to be the same no matter whom you hurt. Also, just a tiny thing, but you are at this level of writing precision. None is a singular pronoun (it's actually short for "not one," so when you use it in a sentence, use singular verbs...as in "None of these cookies has enough frosting." Nice work.
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