Edward Spoon Hands: Are we a Culture of Theft?
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TL;DR: We download / steal unavailable content not because it is the best content, but because we have to work for it and only a small number of people will do that work. For that reason, we can use that as a test with which to define our…
I think it has a lot to do with what is “cool” in the nerd (and nerdfighter) community. I don’t know why certain shows are “cool” or not, but some shows are practically considered mandatory viewing to be a part of nerd(fighter) culture. Nerdfighters pride themselves on imagining people complexly and not excluding people, but I’ve seen nerdfighters exclude or talk badly of people who don’t watch Doctor Who or who haven’t read Harry Potter. Sherlock goes into that category of “shows nerd(fighters) watch.” If you haven’t seen it, you are, in a way, excluded from the community. Some of this exclusion may not be deliberate, but if everyone else is talking about and you haven’t seen it, you can’t partake in discussions about it. Thus, you have to find a way to see it.
And yes, part of why we steal shows like Sherlock may be because we have to work for it, but I don’t think that’s the whole story. I think it’s about staying in the community and being accepted.
