As others have alluded, regardless of the content of the HP books or movies or games, JKR earns royalties and profits from HP as a brand. Keeping the brand in the collective zeitgeist - even if you didn’t buy anything - brings Rowling money through word-of-mouth marketing, money she uses for hateful ends. I know some folks in my life, I bet you know some in yours, who will spend money based on FOMO, or nostalgia bait, or rage bait, without knowing who or what their money goes to.
This same conversation happened when Hogwarts Legacy was released, folks who said “its just a video game, calm down,” were missing the point of the boycotts and protests. Funding HP funds JKR, which funds lobbyists to strip human rights away from human beings. The cause and effect here is well documented.
Keeping the brand in the collective zeitgeist - even if you didn’t buy anything - brings Rowling money through word-of-mouth marketing
My personal consumption without giving her money does nothing to support the brand or market the product unless I go around advertising it for people. In which case it was the the purchase or the advertisement that are the problem, not the consumption itself. If I pirate a movie, a game, an audio book, etc. and don’t go around talking up the property, I would be giving nothing either directly or indirectly to Rowling or any other producer of the content. Matter of fact, I could share access to the pirated materials to make my direct associates less likely to go out and purchase them on their own behalf, arguably denying them purchases they may otherwise have received from more detached and careless people in my circle. But that wouldn’t stop people from hating on the consumption itself. I think that’s silly.
Again, I don’t disagree that providing financial benefit, vocal support, etc. to a hate monger is, at minimum callous negligence, if not complicity or active support of the hate mongering. But I do not think that separating the content from the creator(s) (particularly content that has deep personal and cultural roots for many, and has outgrown its creator in many ways), getting ahold of the content without financially supporting the creator(s), and consuming it without marketing it to others is to be in any way complicit with the creator’s/creators’ behavior and views.
Are you arguing just to argue at this point? Because it feels like you’re moving the goalpost every time somebody corrects you and not entirely in a malevolent way, but more like a stubborn just-don’t-want-to-be-wrong way
Funnily I feel the same way about everyone replying. The original comment in replied to was about how piracy didnt solve the problem because even consuming materials with a hateful creator was bad for your health. Then people keep coming back with stuff about financially supporting Rowling, which piracy does solve.
My goalpost hasn’t changed, people just keep pushing back from different angles. My thesis is the same: Don’t financially support Rowling, don’t market for her work, and don’t be complacent about hate mongering. But if you have access to the content for free and you wish to consume it, it doesn’t hurt anyone to do so and it’s nobody’s business to judge you for it.
As others have alluded, regardless of the content of the HP books or movies or games, JKR earns royalties and profits from HP as a brand. Keeping the brand in the collective zeitgeist - even if you didn’t buy anything - brings Rowling money through word-of-mouth marketing, money she uses for hateful ends. I know some folks in my life, I bet you know some in yours, who will spend money based on FOMO, or nostalgia bait, or rage bait, without knowing who or what their money goes to.
This same conversation happened when Hogwarts Legacy was released, folks who said “its just a video game, calm down,” were missing the point of the boycotts and protests. Funding HP funds JKR, which funds lobbyists to strip human rights away from human beings. The cause and effect here is well documented.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/02/jk-rowling-donates-big-money-to-anti-trans-group/
https://www.them.us/story/jk-rowling-fund-anti-trans-lawsuits
https://www.advocate.com/news/jk-rowling-anti-trans-organization
https://www.buzzfeed.com/natashajokic1/jk-rowling-harry-potter-anti-trans
My personal consumption without giving her money does nothing to support the brand or market the product unless I go around advertising it for people. In which case it was the the purchase or the advertisement that are the problem, not the consumption itself. If I pirate a movie, a game, an audio book, etc. and don’t go around talking up the property, I would be giving nothing either directly or indirectly to Rowling or any other producer of the content. Matter of fact, I could share access to the pirated materials to make my direct associates less likely to go out and purchase them on their own behalf, arguably denying them purchases they may otherwise have received from more detached and careless people in my circle. But that wouldn’t stop people from hating on the consumption itself. I think that’s silly.
Again, I don’t disagree that providing financial benefit, vocal support, etc. to a hate monger is, at minimum callous negligence, if not complicity or active support of the hate mongering. But I do not think that separating the content from the creator(s) (particularly content that has deep personal and cultural roots for many, and has outgrown its creator in many ways), getting ahold of the content without financially supporting the creator(s), and consuming it without marketing it to others is to be in any way complicit with the creator’s/creators’ behavior and views.
Are you arguing just to argue at this point? Because it feels like you’re moving the goalpost every time somebody corrects you and not entirely in a malevolent way, but more like a stubborn just-don’t-want-to-be-wrong way
Funnily I feel the same way about everyone replying. The original comment in replied to was about how piracy didnt solve the problem because even consuming materials with a hateful creator was bad for your health. Then people keep coming back with stuff about financially supporting Rowling, which piracy does solve.
My goalpost hasn’t changed, people just keep pushing back from different angles. My thesis is the same: Don’t financially support Rowling, don’t market for her work, and don’t be complacent about hate mongering. But if you have access to the content for free and you wish to consume it, it doesn’t hurt anyone to do so and it’s nobody’s business to judge you for it.