return2ozmaThere is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series
cAUzapNEAGLbThe people talking abour piracy as if this is just a monetary battle. Its not. With each piece of content we consume we are changed. What content you consume has influence on what you think, what you say, what you do. By choosing to consume content, even if no money changes hands, is still consenting to be changed by content sourced from a person with hate in their heart.
I do not think it healthy to consume content made by hateful people.
There are other options to consume, and potentially even, maybe the time spent consuming harry potter would be better placed meditating and introspecting to become a better person outside of additional influences, or even interacting and sharing experiences and insights with family and friends.
Choose love, reject hate. Money is a secondaey medium.
Ok, so, I have a few problems with this take.
I do not think it healthy to consume content made by hateful people.
First, I question the very premise. That consuming otherwise benign content is somehow “not […] healthy” if the creater is themselves hateful, whether or not that hate is present in their content. A) by what do you mean it is unhealthy? For your mind? Your eternal soul? What? B) If the content does not display any of the specific hatred of their creator, by what means would that hatred effect me at all? Psychically?
Second, let’s assume the premise is true. Tell me then, how would you ever avoid this unhealthy situation in your life? Sure you could avoid the openly hateful creators, but how would you ever know who is secretly hateful? Many a creator of beloved works, has turned out to bit an asshole or a bigot. And many of those were only revealed as such after those works became beloved. Surely, many more were also created by hateful people who were and may never never be publically revealed as such. Given you have concluded that the content and monetary support is not all that matters, but the also the internal character of the creator, how do you know your health isn’t be constantly compromised by consuming work by people you don’t know are actually hateful in some way.
Third, it seems kind of a moot point anyway. Rowling only started revealing her transphobia in 2019. By that point the entire novel series, the entire film adaptation series, a spin off play and companion book, the first two of three spinoff films, and any number of video games, toys, and other merchandise had all been released and consumed by billions. The vast majority of our generation has consumed a ton Harry Potter media in many forms before her bigotry was on full display. I personally ready most of the books over and over as a kid. I gotta tell you, if my health was damaged because she was a hateful bitch at heart, then that damage is done.
I get wanting to take a moral highground, being disgusted by the association, and just wanting to distance yourself from Rowling and leave it behind. I truly get that and think it is entirely justified. But don’t project some sort of damage onto people who don’t do the same, or attribute some sort of complicit immorality to them because they don’t take the same stance as you. That’s where I strongly disagree.
Those are completly valid problems with my statement, we might have different perspectives and wont find agreement, i accept that and still love you and anyone who chooses to consume the content. Ill also say that i was major harry potter fan in my youth, went to the book and movie releases, etc, etc. Harry potter had a special place in my heart.
1a: the distinction between mind and soul is one better discussed in person over hours and hours, ill let you choose whichever fits best within your model of reality. But as far as unhealthy i mean it in the same way as getting mcdonalds - even if you get a salad and water at mcdonalds, you are still reinforcing a pattern where mcdonalds is an acceptable place and source of food, even when we know the food isnt healthy and how they source the food isnt healthy (references to slavery, abuse, theft, environmental degredation, etc - if unfamiliar with these concerns from mcdonalds and other fast foods ill make it your homework as itd be a lot to type out and im no expert to speak authoritatively) - harry potter has a number of stereotypes and problematic areas baked into its universe - maybe eveb innocently from jkr’s perspective - but weve seen what shes manifested into - and further - because of the links and references to other issues it can soften your rejection of other harmful content (for example, theres a very specific representation of goblins in harry potter, and becoming familiar with that representation, innocently, can make you desensitized to other problematic sources that move that interpretation of goblins to antisemitism, just one example of unhealthiness i talk about)
1b: this is what i reference to as underlying patterns, by watching the new hp, is a knife going to jump out of the screen and stab you? No. But you might internalize some concepts from the universe and story that later forms the seed of hatred, or sends you on a path/rabbit hole that does do damage to you. in a certain perspective im sure someone would call that psychically. Just as one double cheeseburger dosent kill you on the spot and even tastes good, in aggregate and over time and repitition, it will decrease your quality of life and if unlucky, might actually kill you.
2: have i consumed unhealthy content before? Certainly and plenty of it, further its likely ive consumed unhealthy content even today unknowingly. But i am now aware and am actively trying to manage the content i consume and being more aware of how it can influence me because i want to think and act in a certain way, and that requires dilligence, just as im dilligent about weeding my garden, just as im dilligent about going to the market for groceries and not going to mcdonalds. I didnt know jkr was hateful as a kid, but now i do. I cant and wouldnt change the past, but i can and would change the present. Its what we do now.
I hope that answers your questions, i dont know how to make my answers shorter, and typing this on the phone is exhuasting, this is a conversation better had with voice and a back and forth dialog.
valid points on the books/movies but this new series will directly fund transphobia and bigotry.
It’s a cash grab and an attempt to distance the original cast, all of whom viciously disagree with Rowlings bigotry.
Joyless, souless propaganda and funds drive. If you were such a dedicated potter fan, why would want to see its corpse puppeted to pay for hate?
Right but they were specifically making a point that it wasn’t (just) a financial question. That consumption of content with a hateful source is enough to be detrimental regardless of the benign nature and qualities of the content itself. I wasn’t arguing that you should financially support hateful creators. I was questioning their premise that the creator’s nature determined how the content affects you even if the content doesn’t reflect their nature.
It is a whole other thing to financially support it. And also another thing to consume new media that may or may not be me little more than a cash grab. It is also further complicated by the fact that this is an HBO property, meaning that financial support technically comes from subscriptions, whether or not you actually watch the content in question or other shows entirely. I wasn’t getting into any of that though.