Accede Gracefully to the Inevitable

"Accede gracefully to the inevitable." This is my motto. It is expressed at greater length in the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

But as a writer and editor I prefer my more succinct version.  And as a writer and editor I also know that if my phrase hasn't been stolen yet (and assuming I didn't accidentally steal it myself) it will eventually be used without crediting me.  It’s inevitable.

I recently received an email from a friend, let's call him Joe, -- a tremendously talented writer and photographer with a blog -- who had a reader ask if she could reproduce some of Joe's photos to hang on the wall. My friend's initial reaction was to say "No."

I understand my friend's reaction. For the past 15 years I've made all or a significant part of my income from my literary efforts or those of the writers I've paid. Let's be clear. I've said this before, here on Gather, but apparently I can’t say it often enough: Those who create things from their minds -- whether stories, recipes, photographs, or, even, puns -- are entitled to recompense for their work.

If you're copying and posting someone else's intellectual creations without permission or attribution you are a slime ball. Period.

But this isn't for you. This is for those, like me, who devote a lot of time, effort, and brain cells to creating something new:

Whatever you post online is going to be used. There's absolutely nothing you can do about it. If your last name is Gates and your daddy's first name is Bill then there's still nothing you can do about it. The record industry is prosecuting kids for illegal downloads and the movie industry is shooting itself in the foot to prevent such downloads -- and they still happen. Your daddy (Bill, remember?, a brilliant man) is helping them and it's still not successful.

I'm sorry. But if you want iron-clad protection for your intellectual property then the only solution is to never share it -- which makes its economic value nil, but it's your choice.

So I told my friend, "Accede gracefully to the inevitable." The person who wrote Joe asked for permission to use the photos in their own house. They didn’t have to ask -- Joe would never have known if they hadn't. They can still use the photos and he'd never know if they do. And if he tells them no he runs the risk of pissing them off without accomplishing anything.

So, by saying "no" he accomplishes nothing positive and may produce something negative. By saying "yes" he accomplishes something positive (good will) and produces nothing negative.

Joe, you can't stop them, so be generous and gain a reputation for generosity. Ideas can't be owned and even the uniqueness of their expression is subject to argument. Argue only when you have something obvious to gain.

And for those of you planning on claiming Joe's work (or mine, or anyone else's) as your own whether explicitly or implicitly, you’re garbage. In fact, you're a somnolent mediocrity driveling on your own chin during those brief periods when you wake up enough to fire more than ten of your synapses at once. It doesn't matter if we can stop you or not, you're still pig intestines -- shitlins.(Typo intended, Copyright, Kevin D. Weeks, all rights reserved, if you use it, I want credit, if you make money, I will demand a cut)