This is actually an interesting example, because I think if you look at the patterns of contrarian and meta-contrarian groups—that is, the people who tend to prefer those attitudes—you actually flip the second two, which breaks the pattern of contradiction and counter-contradiction. That is to say,
(ordinary people who don’t worry too much about this) Huh? It’s illegal for me to copy that song? How totally stupid, I’m not harming anyone.
(people who are really into the torrent community) It’s not/shouldn’t be illegal! Information wants to be free!
(meta) If nobody paid for music, no one could live off being a musician. Torrenters are just making excuses for the convenience of breaking the law.
(approaching sense) We need to reform or abolish copyright law and replace it with a system that pays artists fairly while working with, not against, new technology.
At least, that’s my experience; take it with a grain of bias in favor of position four.
I’ve been lurking and reading for a few days—interested in a few things, thinking about a few things, but not quite ready to jump in and start participating yet. This comment cracked me up enough to make an account and upvote it.