Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Diary of a Millionaire Bully

Commentary

Multimillionaire Jeff Kinney, the creator of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book series, suing the very small publisher Antarctic Press for copyright infringement for producing an obvious parody, "Diary of a Zombie Kid", is a perfect example of the greed of the rich run amok. We live in a country where millionaires and big business ask for less regulations of their practices, and yet they use the government to create a fence around their intellectual properties. "Diary of Wimpy Kid" has become a household name and in doing so it's going to get spoofed. Lots of companies are spoofed all the time. And it's unlikely that Jeff Kinney will win. But here is the strategy of Jeff Kinney and other parasites like him, the millionaire attacks the little guy, outspends the little guy to the degree that the little guy is seriously damaged just by fighting back threatens the little guy with the loss of money to the extent that it would bankrupt him. The cost of defending yourself is so much worse than giving in, that most won't fight these kinds of bullies back. And that's exactly what Jeff Kinney is, not a "wimpy kid", but a bully.

This is exactly what the term "parody" describes. I admit it's an imperfect parody as the art is much better in the parody (which may be what this is really about, Jeff Kinney feeling insecure and threatened by a better artist), but lets be honest here, this parody does nothing that damages Jeff Kinney or his intellectual property which has become way more successful than it deserves to be. This man got lucky and he's let his success go to his head. And because of his strong-arm tactics and greed he won't get one bloody dollar more from me or my kids.

2 comments:

Todd Merrick Novak (aka beanlynch) said...

I realize that I'm being a bit edgy here, but we live in a financially suffering society, where the success of those that do well inflates the prices of necessities for those who have incomes that have either plateau'd or have gone down. And I don't blame people for doing well. But when the ultra rich (which I define as people who live very well and never have to worry about their income again to keep living that way) act like they're the victims of people who have to bust their ass to keep afloat, I have nothing but disgust for their disconnection. And that's exactly what this man Jeff Kinney and his lawyers are, disconnected from people who have to work for every dollar! Millionaire bullies acting as victims sickens me!

Todd Merrick Novak (aka beanlynch) said...

I think I feel a parody of my own coming...