BANG!

Article 13 is going into it’s final stages of voting. 

If this gets through, it will allow many, many companies to abuse and misuse this article to take down as many memes, fan works, and even other independent creators on sites like YouTube, Facebook, and other websites INCLUDING Tumblr. 

THE FAIR USE LAW AND SAFEHARBOR LAW WILL NO LONGER APPLY IN THE U.S OR IN OTHER COUNTRIES. 

IT HAS ALREADY PASSED IN SEVERAL OTHER COUNTRIES. 

WE CANNOT ALLOW THEM TO TAKE AWAY WHAT WE BUILT FOR THE INTERNET SO FAR. 

So here is what you need to do to drag this article down. 

1. Spread the word 

I can’t stress this enough. The more attention this gets the more people we can get to take this down. 

2. Make your own content 

Make your own content on the matter and make sure it is clear to others that Article 13 is bad for every internet user involved. 

3. If you live anywhere in Europe, contact your MEPs 

Ask them if they approve of the article and why. If they do approve of it, try to convince them in a clear, reasonable, and most sensible way possible that this law is BAD. 

The article itself is way to vague about what it’s conveying to its people. 

Saying that as long as the use of said internet memes or content is good as long as it’s in “good faith.” 

We cannot let some shoddy government tell us what we can and cannot post. 

FREE SPEECH IS A HUMAN RIGHT. NOT A PRIVILEGE. 

Here’s a video on Article 13 that Film Theory made on the matter. It will explain things better than I can. 

Somewhere, a voice cries out in panic.

“Do not take his hand:”

But I…But, oh I am tied by desire… Overtaken by impulse.

I am blinded…

in a nutshell, instead of reforming the bad parts of your society, you try to opt out of it in a way that has really no effect, and wouldn’t work at all if the majority of people weren’t still part of the industry you dislike.

there was, for a while, a real movement of people who tried to get everything out of dumpsters, as a way of opting out of capitalism. but the problem was that you couldn’t get what you need when you need it, leading to you being kind of a drain on your community, and someone had to buy that stuff in the first place for it to end up in that dumpster anyway. it was Fundamentally Silly.

going vegan to opt out of farming practices has similar problems. for instance: you (hypothetical vegan you) won’t buy honey, but the bees are being used to fertilize the vegetables and fruit you eat, they’re making the honey anyway, all you’ve done is – well, nothing, because you’re not a big enough demographic to make an impact, but even if you were, honey sales are a much smaller part of beekeepers’ income than crop pollination. and beekeeping is not a big faceless corporate interest. it’s not monsanto. it’s a bunch of single-family or partnership business with a truck or two and a couple hundred hives. the bees make honey after a pollinating run, and the beekeepers sell it for a little extra income. if you made a dent in that, you’d be achieving nothing but making joe beekeeper buy his kids’ t-shirts at k-mart instead of target.

animal farming and plant farming are deeply interconnected. plant farmers grow animal feed; animal farmers sell manure for fertilizer. most non-corporate farmers raise both plants and animals. it’s more economic and gives them more resilience.

if you were a big enough demographic to hit ‘the farming industry’ in its wallet. you would be making things MUCH harder for small farmers than for factory farms. you would be making it easier and easier for factory farms to crowd family farmers out of business. so that’s pretty much achieving the opposite of what you want, right there.

and then there’s the fact that plant farming is just as rife with gruesome factory farm conditions as animal farming, but it’s humans who are exploited in those. i’m not going to level accusations of racism here, but it really is unfortunate how little the vocal internet vegan contingent seems to know or care about the exploitation of the mostly nonwhite workers in the industry. it makes y’all look racist, whether you are or not.

look, i keep saying this, even though folks never seem to hear me: i don’t hate vegans, i’m not trying to stop you being vegan, i do not care what you eat.

You CANNOT grow crops there. That’s WHY there are sheep on it.

You refuse to use wool, well aside from.the fact that it’s a fantastic fiber and how polluting polyester and other plastic fibers are, it doesn’t harm the animal to remove and in fact is done for their benefit.

Above - a sheep farm (note steep and craggy hills), an uncompressed bale of freshly shorn wool and some sheep being shorn.

It’s not stressful for the sheep. Sheep are dumb. Be confident, dont hurt them and they’re good. Wool is a good fiber - strong, warm - even when wet - renewable and biodegradable.

My issue with Veganism-As-A-Cult is the lack of critical thinking. By all means eat what you want, wear what you want to wear but a blanket ban on all animal products because they’re HARMFUL is in itself an extremely harmful philosophy.

Do you refuse to eat plants that were pollinated by bees or fertilized by manure since they’re a product of animal labour?

Honey doesn’t hurt bees. Wool doesn’t hurt sheep.

What about animals that are going to die anyway? We are currently in the process of exterminating possums in our country as they are a pest and destroyer of our native species. We kill them humanely but they’re still going to die because its them (introduced pest) or our endemic endangered species. We use the meat for pet food and the fur for a lot of things now - in making yarns or fur items - because the alternative is to let it rot. Which is just bloody wasteful tbh.

What would (generic) you prefer we do here? Let sheep die of over heating or the weight of wet wool? Force bees into swarming (90% casualty rate) so we can avoid taking their honey? Leave pest animals to rot and encourage the use of set-and-forget traps since there’s no incentive to check them?

THIS is what i mean when I say animal rights groups are absolute garbage that waste time, resources and money, all whilst doing nothing for animal’s welfare. 

Animal rights has done nothing to actually help animals or improve the welfare and care of them. Animal rights activists are people throwing red paint at literal strangers, or doing graphic gross public “demonstrations” in order to shock, they sit on a pile of their own bs and think they’re ethically or morally superior to everyone else despite doing nothing to actually help animals. 

They include for profit groups such as PETA which do more harm then good, or terrorist organisations like the animal liberation front.

Animal welfare activism is what you all should be supporting. Animal welfare organisations are non-for-profit and built up of actual animal professionals; vets, scientists, conversationalists, farmers, so on. Animal welfare activist are the reason we have animal welfare boards that oversee animal scientific research, why scientists have to animal ethics when working with vertebrates, why there are certain welfare regulations for slaughtering animals for agriculture, why there are government laws and guidelines for animal care and welfare. They include groups such as the RSPCA/ ASPCA, The humane society (international),  Animal Welfare League. 

If you support animal rights you frankly are ignorant when it comes to animals and to actual welfare practices or how to go about actually changing welfare issues. If you want to read more about the differences between animal rights and animal welfare I have more posts on it here based on my experience as a zoologist and from my education during my undergrad zoo degree in which I had specific units (animal health and welfare unit) that went over animal welfare and rights.  

Take the group I saw downtown a few weeks ago. They were standing there in Guy Fawkes masks with television screens strapped to them showing horrific scenes of animal mutilation. They had ‘Meat Is Murder’ signs. I don’t doubt these people had good intentions, but their approach was completely ineffective.

They weren’t giving out information. Standing there silently with masks on, they weren’t making themselves open to questions. And crucially, what they were doing was driving people away, not bringing them in. Broadcasting extremely disturbing material like that on a busy street where any number of little kids, people with PTSD, or anyone else sensitive to that could see it…that’s just supremely stupid. All they did was make people avoid them. They didn’t really spread awareness.

Draws cute things to distract myself from the feels this game is giving me

PRE-ORDERS ARE OFFICIALLY OPEN!

Our mod team would like to apologize for our delay and are excited to present the opening of Expecto Patronum’s Pre-Order Period!

[ Click Here for the Store Link ]

**Note :: Due to the most recent PayPal Policy Updates, we will ONLY be accepting PayPal for the first two-weeks of Pre-Orders and during our After-Sales Period. Due to Technical Difficulties with Stripe, we will not open the payment method till September 30th

OUR BUNDLES

Incorporeal Bundle ($10): - Digital PDF Otter Bundle ($20): - Physical Zine Stag Bundle* ($30): - Physical Zine - 1x Charm - 1x Sticker Sheet - 1x Mini-print - 1x Bookmark - 1x Button Unicorn Bundle* ($40): - Physical Zine - 2x Charms - 2x Sticker Sheets - 3x Mini-prints - 2x Bookmarks - 2x Buttons Phoenix Bundle ($55): - Physical Zine - 4x Charms - 3x Sticker Sheets - 4x Mini-Prints - 3x Bookmarks - 3x Buttons

SELF-SELECTION

Regularly, all merchandise included in the Unicorn and Stag Bundles will be randomized for each purchase, but the Expecto Patronum Zine Team has decided to add an additional option for the two bundles.

Due to its nature as a Multi-Fandom Zine, the Expecto Patronum Zine Bundles may have merchandise representing fandoms that do not appeal to each individual consumer. Our mod team understands this particular concern and have chosen to include an additional option to our pre-orders selection.

For an additional cost of 5 USD, consumers may self-select which merchandise designs they would like included in their order.

This means, if you would like to order the Unicorn Bundle ($40 USD), for an additional $5 USD, you can choose which specific designs you would like for your 3 Mini-Prints, 2 Charms, 2 Bookmarks, 2 Buttons, and 2 Sticker Sheets.

If you would like to order the Stag Bundle ($30 USD), for an additional $5 USD, you can choose which specific designs you would like for your 1 Mini-Prints, 1 Charms, 1 Bookmarks, 1 Buttons, and 1 Sticker Sheets.

Notes:

-You may ONLY chose merchandise designs (created by our amazing Merchandise Artists) that correspond with the specific merchandise types (Mini-Prints, Buttons, Charms, Etc) included in your bundle choice.

-You may only select merchandise that are shown in the MERCHANDISE image above. (Stretch Goals will NOT eligible for merchandise self-selection)

-Only the Stag and Unicorn Bundles are eligible for this option.

-Please include which merchandise you would like sent with your order in the notes of your order! (We will NOT refund you the $5 USD if you do not include your choices in the notes area. If you realize you made a mistake, please email us!)

MERCHANDISE

Mini-Prints:

4x6 Postcards

We have 2 Merchandise Prints and a large amount of Randomly Selected Zine Illustrations available! One print falls under the fandom, Bungou no Stray Dogs, and the other belongs to the fandoms “The Big 4.”

Bookmarks:

2x6 Single-Sided Bookmark Prints

We have 3 Bookmarks for the fandoms: Gravity Falls, Utapri, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Stickers:

4x6 Sticker Sheets with 5-6 Stickers

Each of our Sticker Sheets l fall under different subcategories.

-Shounen: Tokyo Ghoul, Noragami, Assassination Classroom, and One Piece.

-Shoujo: Shugo Chara, Sailor Moon, Magica Madoka, Love Live, and Yona of Dawn/Akagami no Shirayuki-him/The Ancient Magus’ Bride.

-Games: Overwatch, Legend of Zelda, Undertale, Life is Strange, World of Warcraft, and the Witcher.

Buttons:

2” Buttons

We have 3 button designs representing the fandoms Mystic Messenger, Haikyuu, and Pokémon.

Charms:

2” Acrylic Keychain

We have 4 designs representing the fandoms, Cardcaptor Sakura, Fullmetal Alchemist, BTS, and Legend of Zelda!

STRETCH GOALS

50: Our first 50 Physical Zine Buyers receive a free LIMITED EDITION Voltron Legendary Defenders of the Universe Print!

100: All Physical Zines bought receive a free Bookmarks and Mini-Postcard!

150: All Physical Zine orders receive a free Chain-Linked Enamel Pin!

200: Giveaway Upgrade!

GIVEAWAY

All you have to do is Reblog/Retweet/Repost this post on Tumblr, Twitter, and/or Instagram! One entry is eligible for each Social Media Site and everyone is allowed a maximum of three entries in total!

Versions of this post can also be found on each of the sites listed above!

This giveaway will be international and paid in full by the Expecto Patronum Zine Project. If you win and have already purchased the zine, you will be refunded~

If zine sales hit over 200 Pre-Orders, we will also upgrade the giveaway!