People will use any excuse to justify and rationalize something they know is wrong.

Game piracy, anime and movie downloads, mp3s, roms... the arguments for each are almost all the same. People don't want to fork out the cash if they don't have to and will use any excuse - not for others, but for themselves - for doing so.

Each have their own legitimate uses (well maybe not the piracy - I would download movies digitally I'd already bought on VHS to save having to rip them myself, anime fansubs of things before it was known if they'd ever see a US release, and roms to play games I'd never be able to afford or just wanted to play on a different system. Everyone's got their own reasons.

I still think people are just cheap assholes though

(also, respect needs to be mutual. Look at how much respect people have for others these days)