It’s not just to have a “do over” that doesn’t involve the original cast, it’s to cut them out of the royalties. Literally the entire point is to make sure all the money made by Harry Potter goes to transphobes or people willing to work with transphobes.
If you watch it, you are supporting bigotry, hate, and oppression. That’s just objective reality. All for a story that you probably have already seen in movie and book form.
There’s people in the notes saying they’re going to watch it anyway, and you know, I understand how you can start feeling so burned out and numb from the world that it may feel too hard to avoid things that will give you a little immediate relief in some way in order to avoid the long-term impact of funding these things.
But. If you can’t bring yourself to avoid watching it, you better at least fucking pirate it.
Hey, look at me. Look at me. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: you need to condition yourself to being okay with being inconvenienced by things. The first time I spoke about this I meant it in a mental health way- it is good to go out to the store and see people versus just ordering alone at home- but there is another more pressing societal issue you should be more concerned about as well.
Any service you rely on for convenience can be weaponized against you the moment you begin to rely on it. Streaming used to be a cheap and convenient way to see movies at home. It is now exorbitantly expensive, you need multiple accounts just to get what you want, and any of those movies can be taken from you at any time. And unless you have gotten used to going through the “inconvenience” of owning physical media, you can do nothing about it. Same goes for buying things on Amazon. Same goes for any service like DoorDash etc. These companies WANT you to be reliant on them for convenience so they can do whatever they want to you because, well, what else are you gonna do?
Same thing goes for the uptick in AI. If you train yourself to become reliant on AI for doing basic things, you will be taken advantage of. It is only a matter of a couple years before there are no free AI services. Not only that, but in the usage of AI’s case, it is robbing you of valuable skills that you need to curate that you will be helpless without the moment the AI companies drive in the knife the way they have done with streaming. Delivery. Cable. Internet. Etc. It will happen to AI too. And if you are not practicing skills such as. Writing. You are not only going to be at the mercy of AI companies in the digital world, but you are going to be extremely easy to take advantage of in real life too.
I am begging you to let go of learned helplessness. I am begging you to stop letting these companies TEACH you helplessness. Do something like learn to pirate. It is way more inconvenient at the beginning, but once you know how, it is one less way companies can take advantage of you. Garden. Go to the thrift store (older clothes hold up better anyway). These things take more time and effort, yes, but using time and effort are muscles you need to stretch to keep yourself from being flattened under the weight of our capitalist hellscape.
Inconvenience yourself. Please. Start with only the ways you are able. Do a little bit at a time. But do something.
I know it’s hard, but it’s worth it, I promise.
Oh my god please this!
Also paying for generative AI is already starting to happen!
Over the last 3 months I have had countless emails from various library vendors about each company’s new “AI assistant”. Many of them are at an additional cost to libraries. Other’s are “free”, for now. They are all problematic in an academic setting as generative AI tools can go against academic code of conduct policies.
Now, these AI assistants don’t give you a full essay and at least give you scholarly and peer reviewed citations but I know, I KNOW, students will use the paragraph summaries to write their papers and be done with it.
Generative AI searches are not research.
Generative AI searches provide you with what is the statistically most likely answer. NOT what the answer is.
Critical thinking is and extremely valuable skill, especially now. The ability to step back and evaluate information you are being told is a step towards not being duped by propaganda. None of us are immune to propaganda!
So please, please, do not rob yourself of the ability to think. Do not give others the keys to take advantage of you. Do not submit in advance!
The plains spadefoot (Spea bombifrons) is toadally cute. But did you know that this stout amphibian, which inhabits arid regions of western North America, is an “explosive” breeder? Hundreds of individuals gather en masse to mate. Afterwards, females can lay as many as 2,000 eggs! These eggs might hatch in as few as two days, and the resulting tadpoles can develop rapidly, sometimes maturing in just 13 days. This species reproduces after warm heavy rains.
ALT
