'Abolish all private property.' - Karl Marx; philosopher, political scientist, Freetard.

'There is no such thing as society.' - Margaret Thatcher; British Prime Minister, consumerism champion, Paytard.

Then there's the rest of us in between. On the one hand, downloading music for free is not the same as stealing a car, no matter what the Paytards say. The price the market determines is not the same as the value to society of a thing. Adverts and marketing do manipulate the system, and Megacorps do put their own shareholders and pay bonuses above the good of the consumer and the quality of the products they sell.

On the other hand, many people who download music for free and defend this on the basis of being ripped off by the record labels would steal a car if they thought they could get away with it. Trade and the free market does contribute to the common good and drives innovation and enables creativity. Pretty much all of those who complain about megacorps happily buy cheap stuff from China even though they are cheap because the Chinese have no H&S, workers rights etc.

Terms like Freetard and Paytard are disingenuous because they polarise complex arguments full of difficult to defined moral concepts and difficult to defend ethical and practical 'certainties' into simple for or against standpoints. Very few of us would fit either of these new stereotypes - for example, I believe music should be free at the point of access, but refuse to buy cheap coffee because it screws the coffee growers and pickers. Also, I believe in being forced to pay for the full environmental impact of owning a car, but that congestion charging is unfair because it prevents poor people enjoying the great social benifits of driving.

Questions like 'how should we pay for music' do not break down into the Freetard answer of 'I don't care' or the Paytard answer of 'music belongs to the companies that make it'. These are the two stupid answers. The real answer requires more intelligence.