ariasune:olderthannetfic:spiced-wine-fic:olderthannetfic: I don’t know about anyone else, but
ariasune:olderthannetfic:spiced-wine-fic:olderthannetfic: I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m perfectly happy to explain my philosophy. I’ve had a quarter of a century in fandom to think about it, after all.No one can donate to every cause, and every year there are horrible things going on in the world.You have to pick.If you try to do everything, you will accomplish nothing.I don’t owe anyone my time or money and I don’t feel guilty when people try this hackneyed anti-AO3 tactic on me. It’s common in every activist space too as a form of sealioning. It’s not a gotcha: it just means you have bad values and don’t understand how to be an effective activist in real life.For a lot of people, their AO3 donation is part of their entertainment budget, not their ‘help starving people’ type donation budget, so they aren’t even related in the first place.For me personally, supporting arts organizations is about recognizing that spiritual and emotional needs are valid too. Literal physical survival is only one small part of human existence.AO3 has been fantastically important for people’s mental health during the pandemic. AO3 is definitely part of my ‘entertainment‘ budget but also my ‘self-care’ budget because writing and reading fanfic has helped me so much over the years. My ’Charity’ budget is completely different. I am seeing so many tags that say things like “AO3 literally got me through the last decade”. It might not even be that much of an exaggeration for some. Also I will absolutely put my money towards anti-censorship and freedom of creative media in a world of increasingly corporate owned intellectual properties. It is absolutely a cause and philosophy I care for as someone whose grandfather was imprisoned for his faith. I have a painting my great aunt had to paint in secret to avoid being punished – it is a painting of a river and it was forbidden. She tore the board she worked on from the walls of her home, because art matters – so I am going to support organization that works towards people having the right to create freely. People acting like the only meaningful good in the world is accomplished on an individual rather than systemic and social level… psh. -- source link