Jen Brea tweets about U.K. Unrest campaign

I think we all agree that it's a real shame to see a small independent film be victim of piracy, particularly as the result of what seems like a deliberately vindictive campaign. However, I do wish that some of the language used wouldn't imply that it's all the UK's fault. Maybe I'm more sensitive due to Jen's words recently re: British healthcare, but the fact that several other members feel the same clearly means there's something in it.

I'm also a bit put out that we're only now learning about this group of people and the financial knock-on effect of piracy, though this can't be helped. I am sure that those in the UK and beyond would've gladly put in some cash for a fundraiser to keep outreach and screenings going in the UK for a couple more months. Ah well.

 

This thread makes me uncomfortable; especially in the light of there being another thread about things Jen has said in tweets. The cumulative effect is not something I would want to experience, and it's unfortunate it's about a fellow pwme.

edit - brevity

 

Mine is to,avoid it at all costs and change my career so I don’t have to work on social media campaigns

 

Piracy has been around since before the Internet, and just about anything can be pirated.

Normally there is nothing to gain from piracy, but in the case of Unrest, the film's message is still getting out. Everyone that watches the film furthers that effort. While it is a shame that direct Unrest outreach is financially impacted in the U.K., it is still possible for grassroots efforts to carry on that task.

Unrest carries a powerful message which is a testament to the suffering of us all.

 

I feel Jen has been over criticized in two public threads. I feel this can leave a very negative impression about how S4ME treats a PwME Advocate, with ME, who uses a wheelchair, and spends a lot of time in bed. I hoped we could support Jen, who has done so much to bring global ME awareness.

Is this too much to ask?

 

Much though I agree with you re: broader support, I think much of the discussion here has been along the lines of people feeling like they (pwme in the U.K.) had been criticised.

Just because some people disagreed with some words that were said doesn’t mean that they are not broadly supportive of the efforts of Jen and any other public advocate. I am sure that the vast majority of S4ME users recognise the fantastic strides forward created by Jen, Unrest, and ME Action.

But to your point about being supportive - I’m bedbound, but if I say something that upsets someone else, or if they disagree with me, that shouldn’t be used as an excuse for that person to remain silent. I hardly think that any of the criticism here has veered towards bullying.

 

Hear! Hear! Well said!

 

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Some compiled tweets from Jennifer Brea that I think paint a better picture. I was in the dark about some of these details.

 

Multiple torrents of the film are available online. It took me a second to find it just now. Unfortunately it's just about impossible to stop people from doing this.

 

It's really difficult these days because all movies get pirated and placed on many different torrent sites as soon as they hit the internet legally. The big movie companies lose millions, the indies often can't survive because of it. For somebody connected to the ME community to purposefully cause Unrest to lose money because they don't like Jen or the movie is worse than a total stranger doing it to make a few extra bucks from advertising. It's very personal. I can see why she is so upset.

Once in a while, ISP's will contact a person and tell them to stop downloading stuff illegally but don't go any further than that. With the use of VPN's, it's pretty easy never to get caught. It's really too bad that Youtube isn't more vigilant.

 

I am grateful to Jen and everyone who contributed to the film for all their hard work. Someone deliberately putting Unrest up for others to copy just because they thought it should be free was wrong.

My views on the twitter storm have already been covered by others in the thread.

However, one point I would like to make is that we don't know what happened after people saw the film for free. It is possible that some of them went on to purchase it, realizing that in doing so they would support Jen's advocacy.

Possibly, having watched the film, they donated directly to #MEAction to support in that way?

Maybe, having seen the film, they will donate to one of the May events?

The piracy was absolutely wrong, but we can't know that those who downloaded a piratepirated copy haven't, or won't put their hands in their pockets just because they saw it for free.

Edited - said bought instead of watched.

 

I wonder if there is any way to raise awareness of, and encourage, this.

 

Jen Brea continues to get criticism on Twitter.
To me, it seems reasonable for her to raise the issue that piracy and watching the documentary for free could very plausibly have had negative consequences on the amount that would be raised and hence available for the campaign.

There is a possibility she could have said it better but it is hard to write nuanced comments on Twitter.

 

Piracy is just part of the world and has been for many years in various forms. It’s very hard to know what effects it has on sales and in my opinion it’s counterproductive to get too aggressive agaisnt it.