YOU SILLY THIEVES AND PIRATES.

After watching this incredible video I made the mistake of reading a few of the comments. NEVER READ COMMENTS ON YOUTUBE; THEY'RE DEPRESSING AS ANYTHING. While a lot of people were very supportive of Jackson's message, there were a few who still think that illegally downloading books is A-Okay, generally for the following reasons:

If a person really legitimately doesn't have the money to buy a book and can't find it at the library or borrow it from a friend, it's okay to use downloading as a last resort.
This is a ridiculous argument. I'm sorry, but it is. We're talking about BOOKS, and no matter how great the book is, you won't die without it. It's not a necessity. It's. Just. Not. The reality is that a writer being able to continue publishing books depends on how good the sales are. If you're downloading a book instead of buying it not only are you in essence stealing money from the author, but you're also making it harder for them to be able to continue publishing books, ie. making it that much harder for them to keep their job. The fact that you can't afford to buy a book does NOT give you license to illegally download it.

If someone really loves the book, does it really matter how they got it? or Isn't it better to have someone love your book but have read it illegally than not have read it at all?
This is a strawman. Whether or not you like the book is irrelevant to the topic of book piracy and, aside from that, if you really like the author's work there's even more reason for you to NOT STEAL IT.

People "steal" music all the time -- it's no different downloading books.
Um, yeah. Stealing music = also wrong. But aside from that, as Jackson mentioned, the record business is not the same as the publishing business.

It's not like the author is going to literally starve if someone illegally downloads their book. Besides, can't you just get another job to support yourself?
I ACTUALLY SAW THIS IN THE COMMENTS. *headdesk* This is so ridiculous of an excuse that I'm not even going to bother tackling it -- seriously, if you have to go that far to make what you're doing okay, it's obviously NOT OKAY.