LJ Idol 2: Secrets, Lies and the Internet
Oct. 1st, 2008 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bewize“Hi, I’m Brad. Thank you for calling [Cable Company] today! How can I help you?”
Brad was cheerful. Brad was too cheerful. Brad was… annoying.
“Yes, hi. I’m calling because I think I pay too much for cable television. I want to know if there is a less expensive option.”
There was a heartbeat of icy silence. Not so cheerful now, are we?
“Let me just pull up your bill… ah yes, well, you have the Amazing Deluxe Package of Awesome.”
Errr…. Okay. That wasn’t helpful.
“All right, so is there a less amazing Package of Awesome available?”
Clickety, clickety, clickety. Brad was typing something very fast.
“I can offer you basic cable.”
Yeah! Now we’re getting somewhere.
“What does that encompass?”
Silence. Ominous silence.
“Your local channels!”
I waited for more. The ominous silence grew deafening.
“And?”
I’d stumped him. That wasn’t a good sign.
“That’s it!”
What was it?
“So, it doesn’t have BBC America?
…
“No.”
…
“What about Bravo?”
…
“No.”
…
“CW?”
…
“No.”
…
…
…
“I think I’d like to cancel my cable completely.”
…
“What do you mean?”
Now it was my turn to sound cheerful.
“I can pretty much find everything I want to watch online.”
...
…
Poor Brad.
“That’s… illegal.”
…
“Yeah, but I don’t care. Bye!”
*********************
So that’s my deep dark secret. I don’t care about copyright law. I care less about creator’s rights than I do my own convenience.
As a writer, hell, as a lawyer, I probably should care. I mean, I suppose if it was my book being leaked on the internet, I might care. Maybe.
But you know what? If I’d made millions of dollars on it, I probably wouldn’t care that much.
So, here, let me say it.
I like fanfiction. I write fanficiton. I use other people’s characters when I do it.
And I don’t care if they don’t like it. To the JK Rowlings and the Anne Rices of the world, I don’t care. Get a grip. Pull a Ron Moore, or a Joss Whedon and nurture your fans. I mean, seriously, you created a character, you told us a story, and then you set it free and that’s where I come in.
Because I don’t care that you created the character.
I care what I can do with your character. And some of the things I do are better than the things you did. And dirtier.
It gets worse.
Fanfiction. Fan art. Fan videos.
Fair Use? Maybe. Don’t care!
Cease and Desist letters make me laugh. Catch me on the internet if you can! You can’t!
And fanworks are just the beginning.
It’s the tip of the iceberg. A long slippery slope of an iceberg.
I download music. Lots of it.
I watch entire television series online.
THERE ARE PLACES WHERE I CAN DO THIS FOR FREE! Some of them are even legal!
But, you know what?
I’d do it even if it weren’t.
And I like it. I like not paying $100 a month for cable. I like seeing the latest episodes of anime, complete with fansubs, 48 hours after they are released in Japan. None of this waiting a year for the official translation bullshit for me!
I read manga online. Entire series of it. For free.
Because I can! And because I don’t care!
But, uh… don’t tell my boss. Or the bar association.
Because then I’d have to care and I really don’t want to.
I enjoy my apathy when it comes to this, thank you very much.
And if you still want to tell me how awful I am, feel free to do so in the comments. I’m going to watch last week’s episode of Supernatural. ON THE INTERNET!
Cheers!
This entry was written in response to the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
therealljidol Challenge 2: “I Don’t Care About Apathy: What I "Should" Care About – But Don’t.” There will be voting for this week's entries. I will make sure to link to the poll once it is put up and I would appreciate it if you would vote for me if you enjoyed my entry. As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Brad was cheerful. Brad was too cheerful. Brad was… annoying.
“Yes, hi. I’m calling because I think I pay too much for cable television. I want to know if there is a less expensive option.”
There was a heartbeat of icy silence. Not so cheerful now, are we?
“Let me just pull up your bill… ah yes, well, you have the Amazing Deluxe Package of Awesome.”
Errr…. Okay. That wasn’t helpful.
“All right, so is there a less amazing Package of Awesome available?”
Clickety, clickety, clickety. Brad was typing something very fast.
“I can offer you basic cable.”
Yeah! Now we’re getting somewhere.
“What does that encompass?”
Silence. Ominous silence.
“Your local channels!”
I waited for more. The ominous silence grew deafening.
“And?”
I’d stumped him. That wasn’t a good sign.
“That’s it!”
What was it?
“So, it doesn’t have BBC America?
…
“No.”
…
“What about Bravo?”
…
“No.”
…
“CW?”
…
“No.”
…
…
…
“I think I’d like to cancel my cable completely.”
…
“What do you mean?”
Now it was my turn to sound cheerful.
“I can pretty much find everything I want to watch online.”
...
…
Poor Brad.
“That’s… illegal.”
…
“Yeah, but I don’t care. Bye!”
So that’s my deep dark secret. I don’t care about copyright law. I care less about creator’s rights than I do my own convenience.
As a writer, hell, as a lawyer, I probably should care. I mean, I suppose if it was my book being leaked on the internet, I might care. Maybe.
But you know what? If I’d made millions of dollars on it, I probably wouldn’t care that much.
So, here, let me say it.
I like fanfiction. I write fanficiton. I use other people’s characters when I do it.
And I don’t care if they don’t like it. To the JK Rowlings and the Anne Rices of the world, I don’t care. Get a grip. Pull a Ron Moore, or a Joss Whedon and nurture your fans. I mean, seriously, you created a character, you told us a story, and then you set it free and that’s where I come in.
Because I don’t care that you created the character.
I care what I can do with your character. And some of the things I do are better than the things you did. And dirtier.
It gets worse.
Fanfiction. Fan art. Fan videos.
Fair Use? Maybe. Don’t care!
Cease and Desist letters make me laugh. Catch me on the internet if you can! You can’t!
And fanworks are just the beginning.
It’s the tip of the iceberg. A long slippery slope of an iceberg.
I download music. Lots of it.
I watch entire television series online.
THERE ARE PLACES WHERE I CAN DO THIS FOR FREE! Some of them are even legal!
But, you know what?
I’d do it even if it weren’t.
And I like it. I like not paying $100 a month for cable. I like seeing the latest episodes of anime, complete with fansubs, 48 hours after they are released in Japan. None of this waiting a year for the official translation bullshit for me!
I read manga online. Entire series of it. For free.
Because I can! And because I don’t care!
But, uh… don’t tell my boss. Or the bar association.
Because then I’d have to care and I really don’t want to.
I enjoy my apathy when it comes to this, thank you very much.
And if you still want to tell me how awful I am, feel free to do so in the comments. I’m going to watch last week’s episode of Supernatural. ON THE INTERNET!
Cheers!
This entry was written in response to the
therealljidol Challenge 2: “I Don’t Care About Apathy: What I "Should" Care About – But Don’t.” There will be voting for this week's entries. I will make sure to link to the poll once it is put up and I would appreciate it if you would vote for me if you enjoyed my entry. As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.