Rodion Belkovich has for the first time publicly responded to the appearance of the electronic version of his “Blood of Patriots”. It is clearly evident from this: Rodion Belkovich and I could live within the framework of one republic, since we agree on legal issues (authorship is unconditional; copyright is doubtful, however, restrictions on copying can be introduced by contract; and, of course, appealing to gangsters for help in resolving conflicts that did not arise from the use of violence is unacceptable) and share common interests (we want as many people as possible to read the smart books we like).
Where Rodion and I diverge is in our perceptions of aesthetics and propriety. For Belkovich, paper books possess aesthetic value; they represent respectability and respect for tradition. For me, paper is dust and mustiness, a synonym for stagnation and one of the inherent attributes of Putin, with his famous folders. For Rodion, it is improper, while providing a free service to an indefinitely wide circle of people, to remind the public of the possibility of expressing their gratitude in monetary form. For me, the ancient Soviet tradition of selling a product as a bundle is improper, requiring those who wish to buy the market-demanded Belkovich to also pay for the publication of an unsellable Ficino (though it is quite proper to advertise Ficino’s book right on the paper pages of one’s own bestseller).
That is exactly why I meticulously listed: pay here to support the author, here to support the paper publisher, and here to support the electronic publisher. For me, this is a truly important ethical issue—to ensure maximum transparency of conditions for the consumer. For these same reasons, I, for example, will not place “джинса” (sponsored content) in the channel, I will indicate which donations I received for answers to certain questions, how much the contract for content placement with Bitarch costs, and even how much referral commission I will receive from your transactions in the btc_banker bot. Speaking more broadly, the spheres of what is permitted and appropriate for me, as a fairly typical libertarian, are of course very different.
So, although Rodion Belkovich and I can live within one res publica, it will be more comfortable for us to live further apart and clearly define the boundaries of our res privata. Perhaps then we won’t fight.
