Illicit

I was not able to make it class on Saturday, March 14th and was not able to see the film watched in class.

By reading other student’s posts, I have read that they are talking about the word and meaning behind the word “illicit” and if I have committed any acts of illicit behavior.

First, according to dictionary.com, illicit means, “not legally permitted or authorized; unlicensed; unlawful” (dictionary.com). Most of the student’s posts were pertaining to buying “knock-off” products and how buying these items were illicit behavior. I have to admit that I have bought “fake” items, especially when I travel to the Philippines. That place is fake stuff galore! Also, since the currency of the peso to a dollar is quite low in the Philippines (50 Pesos = $1.00 US Money, you can buy a meal at McDonald’s for under a dollar!), you can only imagine what kind of knick knacks you can buy. I can spend a ridiculous amount of money every time I visit and not feel guilty about spending too much. I have bought some knock-off purses, wallets, DVD’s, jewelry… and anything else you can think of in the Philippines for a very cheap price. I never realized how much it takes effect on our economy by doing so. A few years ago, I was able to buy these things and not worry about getting checked in customs at the Airport. Usually they will just let you go, but nowadays, they will check everything and take away anything fake that you have bought. It’s gotten pretty strict. It’s pretty impossible to sneak in fake items into America nowadays.

I can understand why it would cause such a big problem by buying things that are “knock-offs”. The real manufacturer that makes these items is losing money and is getting bad reputations for having lots and lots of their items being sold for a cheap price. People are probably saying, “why spend thousands of dollars when I can get a perfectly good one on the street for cheap?!” People don’t necessarily care about the quality of the product if they just want it for the fad (but there are some people who will refuse to buy a knock-off or a non-brand product). Yes, purchasing fake things is illicit, but how can you really stop it from happening. There are so many programs and software available online to download material to put onto your computer without having to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for the actual thing. There are so many vendors who sell fake name brand products (just go to Santi-Alley in L.A.!) that are still in business. There really is no way to stop it unless law enforcements can find a better way of stopping the distributers from making these fake things.

Works Cited:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/illicit