Free Entertainment?

I ranted extensively on Twitter last night about free entertainment. I have encountered, recently, more and more people who believe that they deserve to get entertainment products for free. They think that they should not have to pay for games, movies, tv, books, etc. They think that streaming services ranging from $6-10 a month are a rip off. They think DVD delivery is too expensive. They feel they are entitled to these things and why should they have to pay for them?

I have seen people use pirated software and argue that it is just way too expensive to buy. There are times when I agree that software is obscenely expensive, but I simply don't buy it or I use stripped down versions that are cheaper. There is a reason that stuff is pricey. It takes hundreds of people thousands of hours to develop. Do you work for free? No? Then why would you ask anyone else to?

And that's really the gist of what I'm getting at here. I believe that an artist or craftsperson should be able to make a living at their trade. I like to support the people who create the things I like so that they may go on creating things that I like rather than having to take a second job because people steal their work. We all laugh at the silly warnings on the beginning of DVDs about piracy, but why do we think it's okay to steal creative content? Why do we want to take a source of revenue from someone who is working their tail off just to provide us with something that makes us smile in a day? It's not like it comes easy. All these things take a lot of work.

I guess I just don't understand.