this post was submitted on 07 May 2025
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I’ve had the same problem. Like books I genuinely enjoy. Then I find the authors twitter or bluesky, the author is upper middle class, yet they demonise piracy and get super mad people would dare pirate their 25$ book.
That just icks me.
Like their book was anticapitalist, but here they are blind to the fact some people can’t afford books and we shouldn’t be gatekeeping knowledge. Ewww.
Book prices have gotten ridiculous. Independently published ebooks aren't bad, but that fact that the cheapest physical books you can find new are around $10, and $20-40 is common, puts them way out of reach of what I would buy regularly.
Pirating an anticapitalist book sounds so morally correct
but it also kinda implies it's not a great anticapitalist book, as a truly anticapitalist author would outright make the book public domain.
While I agree an anticapitalist author would lean that way, I don't agree with the implication that you need an anticapitalist author to write a good book.
It just means they know the truth, and decided to be capitalist, anyway. Ignorant people can be educated, but this author understood the cause and sold us out for money, instead of joining.
Naturally, I won't be supporting them.
YUP.
I get it if the author is in poverty. But in the case I’m referring to they were upper middle class, maybe even liberal eliteish.