Whoever that said "there are good pirates and bad pirates", I must disagree. From what I know about pirates, I get the impression that, by definition, a pirate is one who plunders, murders and steals for a living. We have pirates today who do this on the open seas. Quite an old profession dating back hundreds or thousands of years, only with modern equipment and weapons. So, while one may be a "good pirate" in the sense of being good at his profession, I think their raison d'etre is to murder, plunder, rape and steal. And I also agree that, historically (and not necessarily excluding the present day), royalty has been selfish, greedy, adulterous and, at many points in history, ruthless and murderous.
However, as long as we teach our kids the actual truth of these groups of people (especially the pirates), I see nothing wrong with having a fun, fantasy version like we have today. In other words, as evil as the pirates were, I see nothing more than harmless fantasy and make believe in rides such as POTC, or the movies, or Pirate toys at Walmart, etc. I see nothing wrong with fantasy princesses who do nothing but good when, in reality, the opposite has historically been true.
As a Christian, I see it as being similar to that Harry Potter debate that has raged within the church in recent years. Some fundamental type preachers condemn it as promoting witchcraft. While I agree that real witchcraft is Satanic and forbidden in the scriptures, I consider HP to be nothing more than harmless fantasy and I would have no problem with my children reading the stories.
The same goes for war toys as well. I'm certainly not a die hard "pacifist" in the sense of being against violence at all times and circumstances. I do believe that there is a time to fight for what's right, or to defend yourself and I believe in the concept of a "just war". However, I think the current campaign in Iraq falls well short of that concept, and I condemn what I perceive as aggressive militarism on the part of the USA. Even so, I see nothing wrong with little boys playing army men and whatnot. IMO, it's a harmless activity that little boys have been doing for years. And, while I certainly plan to teach my boy(s) (and girls for that matter) that war, even when just, is not something to glorify and take pleasure in, I see nothing wrong with little boys acting out their imaginations by playing war, or cowboys and Indians, etc. And on that note, those idiot school officials that suspended the little boy for simulating a gun with his fingers need to have the ever living crap smacked out of them. But I digress...
It's all in being able to know right from wrong and know fantasy from reality.
) 
Seriously, we know someone who did this (a young, childless at this point, couple) and there were areas where they were VERY worried about pirates, and had brought weapons as a precaution. I THINK it was when they were cruising through the Indian Ocean, but I'm not certain.
