LJ Idol 2: Secrets, Lies and the Internet

[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 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.

Comments

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

Made. Of. Win! I love this- both the sentiment and the execution. Bravo!

[bewize.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And I love your icon.

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks!

[jenandbronze.livejournal.com]

This is a topic that is always discussed here in Canada, as the folks in the US who are blind/vi have it easy, with membership to a great online "library" called www.bookshare.org. We have a very stupid copy right law in Canada, that doesn't allow us to enjoy this great asset! $#@%

Great way to write this entry,... loved your catchy story-line to keep the audience/reader interested to read further down, to know the actual subject you were talking about.

You have my vote this week! Good luck!

[bewize.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sorry that you're prevented from a useful site by something so ridiculous.

Thanks for your comment and I'm glad you enjoyed my entry!

[nursemae.livejournal.com]

Faaaabulous! :)

[bewize.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[scienter.livejournal.com]

OMG...YES! A thousand times, yes! I loved this and I would be right there next to you but for my paranoia (seriously...I have no idea where this comes from...I'm paranoid and unable to lie. worst traits for a lawyer EVAR).

I look forward to your entries each week and so far, not disappointed! Thanks for the great reading!

[bewize.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it and even more relieved that I met your expectations. I'm having a blast with LJ Idol.

LOL. Paranoia is one of the requirments for practicing law in my eyes. Or maybe it's just me... ;)

[majesticarky.livejournal.com]

Great entry! Very funny :D.

Living in Japan, I'm pretty sure they don't care about illegally downloads of American shows, and the RIAA doesn't pay attention to overseas downloads, so I can get away with it here. The anime is especially rediculous. It costs like 30 dollars for one volume of 3 episodes of some anime? No thanks >_>. Fansubs are far better.

I'll be a lot more paranoid when I get home, though, because the internet companies have been sending notification notices, and they've done that to me >_<. So I don't really care about how much money the companies make, I just care that I don't get sued to get them MORE money : (.

[bewize.livejournal.com]

It's terribly frustrating to see the cost of shows and the like that I KNOW actually are worth only a fraction. I might feel better about it if I thought the actors and writers were making more, but it's the production companies and I just don't care if they line their pockets or not.

Thanks for reading!

[sushimustwrite.livejournal.com]

I love this entry and its evil maniacal laugh tone to it.

[bewize.livejournal.com]

Why thank you very much.

*cackles*

[agirlnamedluna.livejournal.com]

Next on channel bewize: do not open the door when the FBI stands in front of it!

[bewize.livejournal.com]

LOL. Definitely not if they don't have a warrant. ;)

[thenodrin.livejournal.com]

Here is a cool tidbit.

Thanks to some of the concessions that came out of last year's WGA strike, if you watch your shows online, after they have been available for about a month, the people who created that show will actually be paid for you to see it.

So, it is actually better for the industry to cancel your cable, fall a few weeks behind on your shows, and watch just the shows you like via the internet, or Netflix, or DVD sales.

Theno

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I don't think Jo actually has a problem with fanfiction, just people who try to make money off her information wholesale. ;) Anne Rice on the other hand, sheesh. She doesn't even want to claim the characters any more. Give them to my good home of porn!


The Joss Whedons and Neil Gaimans of the world will always be my favorites though.