(no subject)

[feotakahari]

I’ve figured out my problem with the whole representation debate. It feels so capitalist. It’s taken for granted that buying the product, a book about gay people, actually does something to help gay people aside from the author. Or that buying a competing product means you don’t support the movement. If there’s any kind of moral imperative, I’m pretty sure it’s not about commodities.

Comments

[lb_lee]

I mean... I want to support my fellow artists in their work, and help them get paid so they can make more! But I've gravitated more and more towards small or self-publishers for that, since they seem to be the ones putting out stuff I want to read. (Using books here since that's my primary thing.)

...but then again, there are other times when I just want to give an artist money without necessarily buying a specific THING of theirs. (The "why don't you have a paypal button???" feeling.)

Maybe I'm misunderstanding?

[feotakahari]

I dunno. The person I originally posted this in response to got pissed off at me. They were saying that if you read books by and about black people, you'll be less racist against black people, and they kept saying I "didn't understand the link." I guess I don't, because it doesn't seem like reading fiction has made fandom less bigoted. All it's done is give some authors money and/or attention.

[lb_lee]

Hmm. I guess I'll have to think about that. I feel like for me, reading has been a huge part of figuring stuff like that out. (And not just racism--queerness and such too.) But maybe different people learn from different things.