I know a lot of us, myself included, like to believe that piracy allows us to consume problematic media without supporting artists we do not like. But piracy demand also indicates to companies an untapped market that they could tap if they create the right product. HBO is absolutely keeping tabs on piracy of their show now and seeing our traffic the same way Crunchyroll used to keep tabs on pirated fan-translated anime back when they cared.

Also, there is a similar ethical zero-sum game with all other Harry Potter media and products. Normally we can buy on the secondary market if we need a hard copy to scan and rip but don’t want to support the creators. But almost every Harry Potter book in circulation is purchased by someone with intention to sell for a profit, and HBO is also likely keeping tabs on sales and resales of DVDs of the old movies. Every time money leaves your bank account for Harry Potter media, you are directly feeding the ecosystem which sustains the Queen of the TERFs.

It’s honestly pretty incredible how morally radioactive this one human is. Orson Scott Card is equally repugnant, but the Ender’s Game series doesn’t even have a small fraction of the market share of Harry Potter (IMHO this is the fault of that movie being just okayish, not good or bad, but that’s another topic.) Trump’s MAGA movement is comparable in badness, but there really isn’t much most of us can do other than voting and never shutting up about how unconstitutional the things he is doing is. Rowling really is comparable to Disney or Nestlé, and she’s just one person, not a whole company.

Right now, the only ethical way to consume Harry Potter is watching or reading movies and books on your copies that either:

  • you obtained before 2020
  • were given to you for free in some non-trackable way, e.g. offline or sneakernet.

There is no ethical Harry Potter consumption within capitalism. We will have to see if this changes once she is dead.

    • m4a@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      0·
      52 minutes ago

      He’s as rabidly against the existence of gay people as She Who Will Not Be Named is against trans people, he just isn’t able to actually do anything about it, partly because a large part of the income from his books is tithed to the LDS church.

  • someone@lemmy.todayEnglish
    0·
    3 hours ago

    It’s shocking to me someone would want to watch this.

    Harry Potter was never good. Why would someone even want to read a Harry Potter book obtained before 2020???

    The TERF stuff didn’t make Harry Potter bad. It always sucked, and people only realized after the TERF stuff.

    • call_me_xale@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      1 hour ago

      I’ll die on the hill that Cuarón’s Prisoner of Azkaban adaptation is the only good HP media.

      And not just for the sneaky sex scene in the credits. ;)

  • Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    4 hours ago

    Boycotts for media work about as well as those for Hogwarts Legacy, not buying a Tesla post 2024, or staying off PSN after Sony announced game discs will no longer be made. Sadly most people don’t care about the political views of those who make these things unless it personally affects them. The only successful boycott I’ve seen recently is Canadians avoiding American goods in supermarkets and even that took an existential threat of annexation for them to act on it.

    You’d have an easier time herding cats.

    • ClathrateG [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      0·
      2 hours ago

      The Montgomery Bus Boycott led to desegregation of the transit system there and helped ignite further civil rights causes, marches, protests etc(although it’s still not a complete process the US still discriminating against its Black population)

      The Sugar boycott led to the fall of several sugar firms and eventually led to Britain abolishing slavery

      The Boycott against Apartheid South Africa led to several south-african companies going bankrupt and eventually to the fall of apartheid

      And most pertinent to this discussion as it was against a single person and their revenue streams the origin of the term ‘boycott’: the shunning of Charles Boycott by Irish people, leading to massive social and political reputational loss, leading him to flee Ireland practically penniless

      Not to say that boycotting a single show(or all media based on her IP) to harm the profits of a single bigot is quite comparable to ending the triangle trade of South African Apartheid, as said it more like the (successful)Boycott of Charles Boycott. So to say their hasn’t been successfully boycotts is ahistorical

      • Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        2 hours ago

        I didn’t say all boycotts are ineffective, merely that most recent ones have been directed at things meant for entertainment and personal use. It takes a big enough threat for enough people to want to do it: slavery, apartheid, segregation, and annexation are. An angry billionaire tweeting their evil bullshit can be, but isn’t perceived as such by the general populace enough to avoid purchasing a game licensed from them.

        • ClathrateG [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
          0·
          1 hour ago

          merely that most recent ones have been directed at things meant for entertainment and personal use.

          Most are, the Sugar Boycott surprisingly boycotted sugar(a good for personal use) produced by slavery, the Boycott against South Africa boycotted against buying goods(for personal use) from South African companies, and included artists refusing to play gigs there and criticism of artists that did, sometime leading to them losing gigs elsewhere like Laura Branigan who lost bookings in the US after playing in SA(entertainment)

          An angry billionaire tweeting their evil bullshit can be, but isn’t perceived as such by the general populace enough to avoid purchasing a game licensed from them.

          After Kanye West’s anti-semitic tweets, a boycott of his brands like Yeezy began, eventually leading to many companies to cut their ties(endorsements, selling of ‘Yeezy’ licensed goods etc) with him, this led to him losing his Billionaire status(he’s now worth ‘just’ $400 million according to forbes, so perhaps not a ‘total victory’, but seeing Joanne have a similar reduction in wealth and mainstream reputation would lead me to seeing it as a successful boycott),
          this shows people can and will get inspired to the boycott licensed products of a billionaire if they tweet some bigoted shit

  • dethedrus@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    5 hours ago

    Damn straight!

    Even if I wanted to watch a worse version of the movies I already watched, no fucking support for transphobes!

  • rsky@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    5 hours ago

    Thanks for the heads up. I don’t even like Harry Potter and JK Rowling can get fucked for being an out of touch billionaire but I’m gonna find these torrents and seed the shit outta them. If you want to tell people what to do and how to think, you’re probably in the wrong place.

    Side note: Let’s be real dude; comparing her to Trump, MAGA, Disney, or Nestle is insane and just makes you sound delusional.

  • GrindingGears@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    5 hours ago

    So let me get this straight, I’m supposed to abide by a clear set of rules, set by, who again!?

    Also i disagree. You can enjoy something, completely guilt free, even if it was created by the biggest trologodyte known to man. Reading a book or watching a movie doesn’t equal wholesale support. Hell I think it would do the world a whole lot of good to read more books, even that are written or suggest ideas that we find offensive or repugnant. For it allows you knowledge, to listen, understand, and to form independent ideas and thought. Basically it creates a better source of knowledge and a defence against darknes. Versus just blindly listening to today’s serially offended internet warrior, who basically has almost zero to offer to humanity other than constant judgement and authoritarian like viewpoints from the opposite spectrum.

    Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me. I also won’t watch this show, but only because it looks terrible.

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    6 hours ago

    Meh, sail the seas and do what you want. This sounds like a plea from the corporate overlords to get you to not pirate their shit. Also, what show?

  • zedricxks@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    6 hours ago

    yeah no ill do what i want thanks.

    most tone deaf post iv read in a long time everyone else is authoritarian so let me tell you what to do,like and think.

    • themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      5 hours ago

      I am not saying JK isn’t a horrible person, but there are way worse people than her making shows and I have never seen posts like this on them. For example Seinfeld, the guy is a horrible person, this just one example there are a lot of horrible people making shows. All of Hollywood should be boycotted if we are being honest.

      • Section Ratio General@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        0·
        3 hours ago

        Yeah, lots of people are either terrible people, or have enough money to fund hate crimes, or are willing to act on their beliefs. Rowling is special because she is both a raving bigot, rich, and 100% willing to pour all her money into making sure no trans person feels safe again. You know, Morgoth’s Trinity: Resources, Hatred, and Will to Power.

      • mushroommunk@lemmy.todayEnglish
        0·
        5 hours ago

        Part of the difference is Rowling still holds so much cultural weight (somehow). So many people still know and watch and purchase Harry Potter stuff. Seinfeld only really holds that weight amongst older conservatives. He’s only popular amongst the people perpetuating the hate. Rowling’s stuff is popular amongst those who should know better.

        I do agree we should boycott more (I personally do boycott a fair bit), but comparing the current impact of Rowling to the current impact of Seinfeld is crazy.

  • bdonvr@thelemmy.clubEnglish
    0·
    6 hours ago

    In any case, aside from JKR being a piece of shit who deserves zero support:

    These remakes seem completely and utterly unnecessary and of questionable production quality anyway. Why rehash the classic movies that were actually decent adaptations of the source material? Is this one arc really the only story worth telling in that universe?

    Boycott it because JKR is a Nazi. Don’t watch it because it’s yet more Hollywood remake slop.

    • zaphod@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      0·
      5 hours ago

      Is this one arc really the only story worth telling in that universe?

      JKR tried with the fantastic beasts films, it failed so hard it only get three out of the five planned films.

      • Aatube@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        4 hours ago

        they did not fail:

        collectively grossed over US$1.8 billion across three films, three times more than the budgeted costs

        they just weren’t as successful as the Harry Potter movies, and the second and third films had bad reviews (because they weren’t very good movies. but still, they had audience polls of B+)

  • RedstoneValley@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    7 hours ago

    Oh dear, the thought police is here, telling me what I can pirate and what is forbidden.

    I don’t give a crap about Harry Potter and JK Rowling can go to hell along with all her trans hate, but your arguments and your authoritarian wording of the post are a bit ridiculous. You don’t get to tell me what I am ethically allowed to do.

    • SectoidLexi@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      0·
      1 hour ago

      Authoritarianism is when someone suggests I don’t support media made by a bigot who’s trying to take away people’s rights :—) I am very smart

    • jdr@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      6 hours ago

      You’re right, except that I think expressing such an opinion here is futile. How anyone could possibly think this kind of post is a good use of their time and energy to make the world a better place is beyond me. Like maybe it’s not harmful in the grand scheme of things, but if you want your society to be better and help people you care about moralizing in the echo chamber is just a ridiculous distraction.

    • tetris11@feddit.ukEnglish
      0·
      6 hours ago

      Switzerland during WW2, defending their neutrality. I want my cake and I want to eat it too.

      Worked for them too, came out better than everyone else. How nice for them