Quote:
Originally Posted by hidari
Neko.. I usuallly like most of your posts. But this one goes overboard, NY times best sellers who have to file for Bankruptcy? ..... artists who go hungry? or those that support them go hungry? GIVE ME A BREAK!
Writing and reading and making a living at it is a PRIVILEGE NOT a RIGHT!!!
I never hear Steve Jordan or other writers on this site complaining about the above problems, because they realize that they can not rely on writing to "make ends meet". What a joke. How about getting a job. How about writing a better book. how about creating better art?
Maybe these "writers' should go hungry because their work is poor. They could get "a job"...... but maybe that is too difficult and requires effort....
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You don't have to agree with me. I'm thinking of a specific author who has 19 books in print, including some on bestseller lists, who really did have to file bankruptcy and lose his house due to medical bills. He did have a full-time job, up to the point that he got laid off, wrote a book, and started pulling in enough money to make it worthwhile to write full-time instead. Until the medical bills rolled in. Writers don't get health insurance through their publishers.
Again, I don't think piracy has anything to do with this author's troubles. The system is broken (in a number of ways). My point was simply that "fighting the system" by taking copies of books without paying for them, if it has
any effect whatsoever, is likely to hurt people who are already being hurt by the system-- the content creators themselves.
You can rail on all you like about how no one "deserves" to be paid for work completed, and I agree. But I also think no one "deserves" to receive copies of work someone else has done, without giving something back. I'm not talking about the economy now. I'm talking about being part of a community of artists and people who appreciate art.
This is a more general question, not just directed toward Hidari. If you think the arts should be free, that they're just part of making the world a better place, are you also contributing some form of art to the community (for free)? If art's not your contribution to the community, what is?