GENERAL VIEWING, BUT SOME SCENES
MAY BE UNSUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
this post contains discussion of subjects that some may find icky or perhaps even squicky, but the author wishes you to read it because it's some awful shit. for those already aware, this post is in regards to Yesterday's Patreon Shit.
There is no counterpoint to what you said, and while your arguments were worthwhile and well made, they were also redundant. Why?
The gig economy is by design made to allow corporations the least amount of accountability to those making money off of their platform, and conversely -
and also most importantly
- those who the platform is making money off of.
Now that Patreon has built up enough of a userbase and, also most importantly, enough of a market share within the crowdfunding business, it doesn't lose anything by completely and unabashedly jettisoning these "problematic" content creators off of their platform.
Patreon has one fucking job to do, just as you said. They were founded on the premise that they'd act as an intermediary between creators and the payment providers, so the creators could reach their audience for financial support. They've literally decided to selectively stop doing their job for some of their user base, simply because it's easier for them to do.
It's easier to just get rid of the problem than to have to continuously try to argue and negotiate against these goddamned, monopolistic, puritanical payment providers whose one job is also just so happens to be processing payments.
It's obvious who holds all the power in this arrangement, and as a result of that it only takes a little bit of politics thrown into the mix for one company to exercise that leverage against those it would rather not see benefitting from, or supposedly "misappropriating" their services. Even though the arrangement will ultimately mean that they make more money, they'd sooner see people fucking starve than have their antiquated principles challenged.
The worst part is that literally nobody else is going to fucking stand up for us. Everybody else who's on that platform, left-leaning or LGBTQ-aligned as they may be, isn't gonna do fuck-all to help us or try to push back against this.
Patreon has them by the fucking gonads, so who's gonna even think to rock the boat?
I know, because nobody else did when I felt pressured to leave 4 years ago, almost to the exact day.
Because Capitalism Thrives on Cruelty.