I am very against the NFT marketplace. This is not to say that I despise the artists participating in it to sell their work, especially if they are in financial trouble. What I despise is the people who created this marketplace, and are encouraging capitalistic structures so that they and their friends can become more wealthy. It is difficult to attain a sustainable and ethical job and live this way in the United States, especially for those affected by systemic racism, people who were born into poverty or are experiencing homelessness, etc. More capitalistic marketplaces mean that these people are even less able to support themselves, let alone think of how to address pollution (which primarily impacts the poor and poor countries that the US dumps our waste on). It means that the rich white men in a male-dominated industry (that is, 91 fucking percent) are continuing to profit off of deeply rooted sexism and systemic racism. It means these people are cowards and narcissists who cannot bear to face that the world sucks for most people. Instead, they retreat into their own privilege, which has catastrophic effects on the people that have been suffering.
I have elected to not participate in contributing to cryptocurrency trading, as I feel that the only moral justification for doing so is being financially helpless. Every acquaintance I’ve spoken with about cryptocurrency (which are all financially stable males) have never once mentioned the disastrous effects of it (because they are not affected by it, and don’t care). I know that they would definitely do this, so I will do the opposite of what they would do. 🙂
I don’t have anything against anyone in this class if they participate in this because I know that you people and most artists care about things <3.