I think another way to say this is that you can be a human being and still lack many things: political freedom, money, love, etc. But -- you cannot be a human being without culture and there exists a strong feeling (whether it is correct or incorrect) that the more culture you gain, the more human you are. The desire to engage in your culture is just the same as the desire to be human, and that desire will trump any other factor, which is why -- and I understand that this may be contentious -- the objections to piracy can only be made in very specific circumstances and that in the general case it is an entirely ethical and justifiable form of acquisition.