Fighting Against The World
Node LinkNextChuck Norris was challenged to fight the world, and accepted. He bet on himself, won, and collected the bet money.
( Chuck Norris Facts by Shlomi Fish (= me) and Friends. )
("Never underestimate the power of the Schwartz" from Spaceballs)
("Little Buddha - Awakening.")
Also see the story of Elijah and the prophets of the Ba'al
They said Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) will never win. Nowadays, Microsoft, and Apple have many original FOSS contributions, and hire close-to-full-time open source devs. Even Electronic Arts (EA) has FOSS code.
They said open/free content is a fad. Wikimedia, Wikia and countless of blogs, microblogs and social media pages and web forums are evidence to the contrary.
They said music will never be open. Many independent YouTubers and the commercial success of Ghosts I-IV proved them wrong:
Whether Taylor Swift gets the rights for her old songs back or not, it won't change the fact that even though they're her brainchildren, they belong to everyone (who can cover, remix them, & listen to them). Neither Swift nor her record label will likely go bankrupt soon.
They even said the CVS version control system will not be replaced, but Subversion did mostly supplant it, and now git is the dominant version-control system.
They likely thought the Christian crusaders during Saladin's time will remain fanatical to Jesus. Well, most of them did not denounce their faith, but proclaimed Jesus told them that returning to fight Saladin was pointless. Some people would now call that "common sense", and I was told there are now several Christian interpretations of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which had two Jewish actresses in leading roles ( Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Alyson Hannigan ) and had a strong occult general theme.
Now they tell me that Commercial fan-fiction will never happen
or that it will be "unethical". When will they ever learn?
Well, I'm still going to try, and there may be obstacles, and setbacks, and I might not succeed, but I won't give up for now. I may still "walk away" or "run" from this based on what my judgement tells me. But I'll carry on for now.
And I'm not alone. There are many fan-fiction (or "original" fic) authors who would love to see their ideas filmed, but know that submitting them to Hollywood studios is futile. There are dozens if not hundreds of unemployable formerly "big name" actors, actresses, film makers, and screenwriters. There are many disgruntled lawyers who make atrocious "Intellectual Property" demands and even put one long paragraph of legalese on a McDonalds' Happy Meal toy. And even the Hollywood executives likely feel trapped.
I have some "enemies" as well. My greatest enemy is naturally myself - how I manage my time, how I say what I say, my prejudice and "rules" I succumb to, and my past record, legacy and mismanagement. I also have to handle:
Slashdot reviewers who keep my submissions in the queue for months and are effectively unreachable.
reddit readers who downvote comments or posts they disagree with (or find blasphemous / true).
subreddits' administrators who remove my posts from public view - either for being blasphemous or due to their delivery being lacking.
The Internet instant messaging services and protocols being fragmented, unusable, messy, or insecure.
WordPress, which I was told is the best-in-class blog engine, being incredibly bad and unusable even for the end-commentators, whose comments are often eaten or their links rendered as plaintext.
People's tendency to either over-idolise or demonise other people, organisations, or idea systems, and take them as gospel or counter-gospel.
Possible interpretations of the USA Constitution, various acts and bylaws or even court precedents and other guidelines that are getting in the way now.
Some people's reluctance to change.
People who accuse me of having ulterior motives of promoting my "agenda" or "religion", when I think they are a solution to the underlying problem and am trying to help:
"Are we to understand," asked the judge, "that you hold your own interests above the interests of the public?"
"I hold that such a question can never arise except in a society of cannibals."
Anti-malware software or firewalls that block my domains, and which are often malware in their own right.
They are not obstacles to be casually dismissed. But they may be surmountable. Furthermore, I am not seeking to destroy the commercial film industry this time, but to make them prosper. And I believe commercial fanfiction will be nice to have, even if some film studios go out of business (which I hope will not happen).