Some nuance on "Black March".
Jan. 20th, 2012 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandraerinI didn't make the graphic in my previous post, and I don't fully agree with its message exactly as written, but I'm glad it's there because most of the organized actions taken against SOPA/PIPA so far haven't targeted the real motive force behind it. I think this one has a chance to do so. But the key to making it work in a way that doesn't have a lot of unacceptable collateral damage is that you don't turn off your conscience or your brain.
The graphic talks about a blanket media ban, but the real key is the big, old media conglomerates and the MPAA and the RIAA. I mentioned the fact that DC Comics is under Warner and Marvel is under Disney... there's no reason to stop buying indie comics and supporting indie cartoonists online. Heck, give them the money you're saving.
Some people have noted that not buying books that come out in March is more likely to hurt the authors (sales are really sensitive and an author who has a failed launch might suffer a terminal career blow) than the conglomerates. Well, the fact trad-pubs are anti-piracy and links between publishing houses and other media companies notwithstanding, it is the MPAA and the RIAA that are really pushing SOPA... you can stay loyal to your favorite authors and still hurt movie and album sales. In keeping with the spirit of things, buying books through a local/independent channel might be advisable. It's worth noting that Amazon protested SOPA.
If you feel like convenience-driven digital channels are worth encouraging and want to keep patronizing them, I don't think anyone can argue with that. I mean, if everybody canceled their Netflix for a month in March, that would hurt Netflix first and the studios would be happy to believe that this proves that the internet is just not viable.
Here's the big ones, the ones that should be considered non-negotiable: don't go to the theater, don't buy hot new releases in movies or music.
If you don't carry around a bunch of corporate organizational charts, it can be difficult verging on impossible to "starve the beast" of all of your money for March, to say nothing of getting a whole nation to do the same. But because of the way that our country worships the Almighty Profit and the way the system punishes companies for things like bad quarters, even a dip in their earnings... even if their earnings go up but not by as much as they expected/wanted them to... that should be enough to make things uncomfortable. I mean, we live in a world where stocks can tumble on news that profits did not beat analyst's expectations by as much as they were expected to.
The graphic talks about a blanket media ban, but the real key is the big, old media conglomerates and the MPAA and the RIAA. I mentioned the fact that DC Comics is under Warner and Marvel is under Disney... there's no reason to stop buying indie comics and supporting indie cartoonists online. Heck, give them the money you're saving.
Some people have noted that not buying books that come out in March is more likely to hurt the authors (sales are really sensitive and an author who has a failed launch might suffer a terminal career blow) than the conglomerates. Well, the fact trad-pubs are anti-piracy and links between publishing houses and other media companies notwithstanding, it is the MPAA and the RIAA that are really pushing SOPA... you can stay loyal to your favorite authors and still hurt movie and album sales. In keeping with the spirit of things, buying books through a local/independent channel might be advisable. It's worth noting that Amazon protested SOPA.
If you feel like convenience-driven digital channels are worth encouraging and want to keep patronizing them, I don't think anyone can argue with that. I mean, if everybody canceled their Netflix for a month in March, that would hurt Netflix first and the studios would be happy to believe that this proves that the internet is just not viable.
Here's the big ones, the ones that should be considered non-negotiable: don't go to the theater, don't buy hot new releases in movies or music.
If you don't carry around a bunch of corporate organizational charts, it can be difficult verging on impossible to "starve the beast" of all of your money for March, to say nothing of getting a whole nation to do the same. But because of the way that our country worships the Almighty Profit and the way the system punishes companies for things like bad quarters, even a dip in their earnings... even if their earnings go up but not by as much as they expected/wanted them to... that should be enough to make things uncomfortable. I mean, we live in a world where stocks can tumble on news that profits did not beat analyst's expectations by as much as they were expected to.