“CHHHOOOO, CHOOOO,” here comes the self-entitlement train and guess who is flooding the station to get aboard: Americans. This time around, Americans aren’t asserting their way of life over everyone else’s by trying to make English the national language, crying for universal health care, better schools or trying to raise the minimum wage. There are no grandiose ideas being put forward, this time things are a little more petty than any of that.

This time around its solely about people not wanting to pay to see movies. This is a little different than the, “I don’t want to pay for music,” train because in this case a definite and dramatic impact is visible.

I’m talking about 2009 film “The Hurt Locker” and how, as reported by Reuters.com, “The Hurt Locker” first leaked onto the web more than five months before its U.S. release last June, and was a hot item in P2P circles after it won six Oscars in March, including best picture and director. Despite the accolades, the film grossed only about $16 million in the U.S.”

I realize when someone says that a movie grossed that much money, you’re thinking, “That’s still a lot of money,” so allow me to put things into perspective.

“The Hurt Locker” came in at 117th most grossing film of 2009, according to boxofficemojo.com. That’s right, the film that was considered to be best picture and garnered five other Oscars had 116 other films bring in more money, and believe you me, many of the films which earned more did not receive critical acclaim. “The Hangover” came in at number six for top grossing, bringing in $277,322,503. Can you really tell me that it deserved it more?

Many people will defend the pirating of the film. People in Internet forums, on youtube.com channels and in bars are defending the electronic theft of “The Hurt Locker” saying that viral osmosis of a product only helps it with free advertising, or that it’s the age of the Internet, and people need to get used to pirating. I could link you to a well known youtube personality saying this during his latest show, but you visiting his channel brings him money, and I’m not about to support someone who openly advocates stealing because its easy.

It’s safe to say things are not as they should be, when the best film of 2009 doesn’t even break top 100 for most grossing films of 2009. If you are interested in a film what you do is read reviews about it, ask friends what they thought or just bite the bullet and pay to see it yourself.

What you don’t do is hear that the movie is out-of-control awesome and then steal it off the Internet and give some lame pseudo-intellectual explanation of why it was justified that you stole from someone.

I think the issue was addressed most aptly by Ayn Rand in her novel “Atlas Shrugged.” It’s an awesome book that you won’t ever read because of its enormous length, so I’ll tell how it pertains to what I’m talking about.

In “Atlas Shrugged,” the smartest minds in the world stop working because they are having their intellect and hard work leeched off by everyone else in a weird kind of socialism that is put in place. When the greater minds go on strike, the nation feels a kind of brain drain that makes progress grind to a halt.

Believe it or not, you are not in any way entitled to what someone else creates. You have no claim to their hard work. It doesn’t matter what you think about them, how much money they make, or whether you think they have more than they will ever need. Doing it because its easy and justifying it later can be done by any thug who throws on a hoody and mask.

You not seeing the similarities is just, well, dumb.

If you want great films to be made, you need to support great films by going out and giving them your money in exchange for enjoying them. As much as I’m sure film makers love to make movies, I doubt they like being ridiculously short changed.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to get paid, and if the people standing there with their hands out waiting to collect for their hard work get short changed, they stop working.