Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
 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? |
Neko, I think this gets to a more fundamental question, "What is art worth?". This is both an individual choice and depends on how much "free" time, money, effort, etc. you have to spend on it.
To a starving person, art is worthless. To the extremely wealthy, art may be worth millions.
To a color blind person, color, pictorial art may be less than worthless. I've seen acclaimed "Art" in museums that, IMO, wouldn't have been of any worth at all. Likewise, much on what Harry (and many literary minded folks agree) thinks is great literature, I don't think is even worth the effort of reading. And yes, since I got a college degree, I have read some of it.
We each place our own value on the arts & we each support them as we think they deserve. E.g. I wouldn't not pay anything to go to some musical concert but ZP was ecstatic to go to a Tom Wait concert (I had never heard of him before she mentioned him) I don like music and purchase it but would be very bored to do nothing but sit in a large crowd and listen to music.
Some of us have little or no talent in creating "Art" or what others see as art. I've seen pictures of yvanleterrible's (I think it was) woodwork which to me is art but others might consider it just a semi-functional object.
What might help the "Arts" more is to induce people to attempt to creat art. This way the would find out how difficult it really is and might be more supportive. As an example, I never tipped waitresses very much & felt socially pressured to do even that much until I had a job that depended on tips. Now I am more reasonable (some might say more generous, others less stingy) with tips.
So, bottom line, some people who "pirate" ebooks might just not value them (or be able to afford them) as much as you or I do. Later in life when they have more wealth, they may become the leaders of the community in supporting the "Arts". Always remember, the "Arts", while necessary to a well balanced psyche, are not necessary to survival and come about in communities which have the luxury to create them.
'nuff preaching. I can too easily take either side of this discussion. I guess that makes me ambivalent. Definitively too long winded. I apologize for the rant.