So, this was brought to my attention today on twitter and my disgust is only rivaled by my incandescent rage. Here's the story:
There's this guy, a semi-popular webcomic artist, who released a book. The profits of this book were such that he was able to pay off his student loans. Sounds pretty good so far, right? I mean, mild success, responsible financial decisions, good on this guy.
So he kept drawing webcomics. Eventually he wanted to publish another book. So he turned to Kickstarter for the funding. He asked for $8,000. He got $56,000. Still all good, right? Good on this guy.
Here's where things get sour.
Sometime between the successful funding of his Kickstarter campaign and today, this guy LOST HIS FUCKING MIND!
You see, there were some delays with the book. Some things cost a bit more than expected and some things took longer than expected. This guy got some emails, some allegedly harsh questions from people who had paid him for the book (which they had not received). So he responded.
Today he released a video. Showing over a hundred of his new books, the ones earmarked for Kickstarter backers, the ones that had ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR, burning in a big pile. He posted a (VERY) long winded update to his Kickstarter page. I'm not going to repost it here, it's seriously longer than anything I've written for this blog so far.
And it reads like the poorly xeroxed paranoid manifesto of the crazy bum on the street corner who's always mumbling about "the fed'll getcha, markmywords!" and smells of cat pee. I'm serious, this whole thing reads like the barely coherent ramblings of a mentally disturbed person.
The gist of his update is this. He wants to opt out of Capitalism. He apparently now thinks of money as "a bad joke we only use to hurt each other" and yes, that is a direct quote. He says he will burn another copy of his book for every tweet, email, Facebook, or other message asking where the book is, because he is not sending any more out. He also isn't issuing any refunds. He actually suggests that if a backer (whom, I will remind you, has ALREADY PAID for the book) wants a copy he or she should try to contact someone who already got theirs and take it from them.
As if this wasn't bad enough. He also spends a long time rambling about how he wants to meet someone (or someones) who think money is a joke (like he does), and therefore would they please pay for all of his living expenses while expecting nothing in return? This guy is crazy, to be sure, but on top of the crazy he is just a colossal entitled fucking asshole.
You see, I kind of get where he is coming from. Wanting to opt out of a fiat-currency based economy would be an interesting experiment. But not like this. Here's my problem:
This guy made promises. He made promises about a book that he would produce for people if only these people would give him some of their money (which he conveniently didn't think of as a joke when he was asking for it). People did give him their money. Over a thousand people in fact. And he got north of Fifty grand for this book.
He OWES those people a product. They paid for a product. He agreed to supply a product in return for money, they supplied the money, now he must supply the product. Or, barring that, a refund. But he's not. He's just going to burn the product, literally wasting it in a giant 'Fuck You' to anyone who cared enough to support him. And he spends a long while plainly insulting people for daring to ask him about the product he promised to deliver.
You want to go moneyless and try to live outside of the economy, that's fine. But you don't get to accept Fifty Thousand Dollars, then claim to be broke and not supply the thing people paid for. Or worse, actually destroy the very thing they paid for in front of them, just because you decided you wanted out. It is an almost unfathomably awful thing to do, and this guy is literally just the worst kind of person.
Ok, I started this trying not to mention his name. Because I firmly believe he doesn't need any more publicity. But I have something to say and damn it, I'm going to say it.
Disclaimer: This is not a threat. This is an opinion. I am not advocating anything, just engaging in a fantasy. Only a fool would take the following as a suggestion or good advice. With hat out of the way:
FUCK YOU, John Campbell. You are an entitled, idiotic, crazy fucking WASTE OF LIFE and the ABSOLUTE worst kind of asshole. I'm not a violent man. But I sincerely think that you deserve for someone to get a good run up and launch a field goal kick directly into your crotch. I hope you get taken for everything you will ever have in a court of law. I hope you spend the rest of your sad, pathetic, lonely life behind bars. I don't want you to die. I want you to regret the fact that you were ever born.
I do not know you, and I will probably never meet you, but know that I loathe you and everything you are trying to do. Fuck you!
*ahem*
Sorry. I guess I got a bit worked up over that one.
So, I'm going to bed. I hear Twitch Plays Pokemon has started Generation 2, so Ima watch that to restore my shaken faith in humanity.
Until tomorrow lovelies.
