the stupid fucking atlantic libgen post is still going around after several days so im gonna say my thing on piracy over here also. my position has been the same for many years, but now i have some credentials or whatever in case you like appeals from authority.
i'm a lambda award winning author who's been below the poverty line for more years than not. there were a couple months there where i could only afford to eat because the book i'm in sold way, way better than anyone expected. there was a month or two i got a little fucked up budgeting for a second printing that never came. i don't make a full-time living off of my writing but it is a major part of my budgeting, it's sometimes the difference between stability and danger.
i say all this to let you know i've got fuckin skin in the game, and i am putting my whole self on the line when i say that i would rather a thousand thousand people pirate my work than not read it. art should not be exclusively in the hands of the wealthy; the people deserve bread and roses and i would never criticize anyone for stealing bread, why would i possibly criticize them for stealing books? have you never had a day where you thought, if it weren't for this album, this movie, this book, my life would be diminished?
like, that's what it all comes back to. you, the artist who thinks pirates are vile because they're taking money from your pocket, money you need to survive: do you believe art is an essential part of human existence? if you do, knowing that poverty and access inequality are huge fuckin' problems for people all over the world, why are you against piracy? if you do not, why the fuck are you making art?
