A Guide To Ethical Media Consumption In A Profoundly Unethical World

We are at a strange crossroads right now. We have seen the consolidation of intellectual property around major media organizations and now those same media organizations are consolidating into each other and all trying to curry favor with the current administration. This puts the viewer, reader, player, consumer, whatever you want to call it, in a weird situation where their own identity can be formed by things that were created by people who turned out to be actively funding their erasure, or are currently owned by people actively trying to destroy their rights.

Now I'm not a scholar, I'm not a sociologist, I'm just a guy who likes to watch TV and movies and play video games. That said, if you're like me, you may have issues justifying watching things when your time and money are going to promote policies that harm either yourself or people you care about. Here is how I handle this situation and maybe this is something that can help you decide how to deal with the current situation.

Know Who Owns What You Like

The media landscape is rapidly evolving and what shows and books you like will change hands several times. Take for example The Children of Blood and Bone, the fantastic Y.A. series from Tomi Adeyemi; Lucasfilm originally optioned the series but it is now being developed by Paramount for a January 2027 release.

Because of rules regulating who can produce content for what networks have lapsed at the FCC, it does make it a little easier to track who made what in recent years. If it airs on CBS, odds are CBS made it and so on and so forth. The same goes for shows that air on Netflix, Peacock, or other streaming services, as they are produced exclusively for them.

Know Your Line In The Sand

What you are willing to put up with from a media company is entirely up to you and what level of boycott you are comfortable with is up to you. Look at the wide array of ways people are handling the Harry Potter situation at Warner Brothers in the face of J.K. Rowling's general awfulness towards transgender people. Some people are boycotting everything Warner Brothers does, some are boycotting the works of those who star in the upcoming HBOMax adaptation, some people are just boycotting the show itself.

The point is, you need to know what you're comfortable with from the media companies you're consuming. If your line is that you don't want to support someone for employing someone who spews hateful rhetoric, know when that line has been crossed and how you will respond.

The other important thing is that if you cancel a subscription, make sure you tell them why. Maybe no one ever reads them (and maybe it's naive of me to think they are being read at all), but explaining that you are canceling your HBOMax account because of the new Harry Potter series or that you're canceling your Disney+ bundle because ESPN is going to be partially owned by the NFL makes it harder for them to chalk it up to other market forces.

Use Alternate (Though Legal) Means Of Consumption

So say something you want to watch is now on the other side of the line you have drawn in the sand, there is still a way to watch it. Now I can't condone piracy or direct you on how to do it, so I'm only going to go over how to watch things legally.

First, a boycott works as long as the company you are boycotting is not receiving money from you for what you are consuming. If you buy physical media used, you get around this because you are not directly buying from the company that produced it. This may seem like a silly loophole, but the used market is a key way for you to consume something you love while not supporting the company that made it.

While few and far between, local video stores do still exist in the same way local video game stores exist. You may need to travel a little ways but you can patronize a small business to get what you are looking for to an extent. There are a few local stores I go to, but these are largely built for people looking to buy something rather than something specific. Between Amazon marketplace sellers and eBay sellers, you can find used copies of newly released movies from people who buy them to watch once and then resell them.

The other option, especially if you aren't a Nielsen household, is to wait for it to be on cable and watch it there.

Understand That Finding Comfort In Rough Times Is Not A Bad Thing

Look, let's be real, shit's rough right now. We are dealing with systemic decimation of rights, and the companies that own intellectual property we care about are complicit in this degradation. On top of that, the job market is stagnant, the economy is not improving, and even things that aren't directly related to current events have been slowly degrading in quality. Have you noticed that Spotify can't even shuffle right? My iPod did it with no issue 15 years ago.

Anyway, the point is that there is nothing wrong with finding comfort in the things you like. If you enjoy Star Trek, watch Star Trek, even if you have issues with how Paramount is acting. J.K. Rowling has terrible views and espouses them constantly, yet the Harry Potter books and movies are foundational aspects of their identity from childhood.

It's the media equivalent of eating a tub of ice cream or an entire bag of chips. It may not be the best for you, but there is value for your mental health in taking comfort in something you know you enjoy.