A few days ago I wrote a post for the DBW blog, “A Gen Y Reaction to Macmillan’s Piracy Plan“. I obviously can’t condone piracy. But I can’t pretend that it’s not tempting and, in the words of one commenter, “tells you what your (potential) customers want.” Reaction was surprisingly around 50/50. Many (older) people felt that I was praising thieves and questioned how I would feel if people just expected me to work for free. Um… internships anyone?
However, I have a plea: pretty please will you people stop fighting change? This gets me every time. How do people not see this already? It’s not just publishing, it’s the world. As humans we hate change. Fine. I get it. But just because we don’t like something doesn’t stop it from happening. What, are you five? Covering your eyes doesn’t mean you’re invisible, kid. I wrote this comment in response to the HarperStudio blog where Debbie Stier Tumbled my post:
“Napack’s plan is like abstinence only education. Making condoms inaccessible doesn’t mean people are going to stop having sex. They’re just going to do it secretly and unsafely. It’s the same with pirates: just because we make it hard for them doesn’t mean they’ll stop. They’ll just find a way around it – a way that might be the less safe, less desirable route.”
There you go, food for thought my friends. Just don’t shoot me.
