Thought of the day
Steemit is a frightening example on how money can corrupt our behavior and a mirror of modern society .
One who intends to gain money and influence will post only content he thinks others might like. He will upvote and post on higher ranking people in the hope for a reward. He will avoid writing about inconvenient topics and save his vote on posts he doesn't expect a reward from.
Then he will succeed, become rich and powerful.
One who posts about things painful to accept for others, supports the underdog with "low value upvotes" will remain unpopular, poor and without power.
If money becomes the driving force for our behavior, the truth will remain nothing but a theoretical concept and nothing of REAL value.
Only the pleasing portion of the truth will get attention and agreement.
The darker sides of it will remain in the dark.
Yelled out by a lonely man in the desert.
My first reaction to this post was "brilliant". But then I had to look at my own behaviour and state that I hope to gain money. I've given up on gaining influence (who wants that anyway?) having posted controversial content, but that has not stopped me from scavenging a bit e.g. buying votes from bots and posting a limerick every day in order to get upvoted.....and earn steem.
So it's just about how skuzzy one is anyway.....which I guess I am....but just in a different way...? Thanks for the food for thought :) Steem on!
We are all born into this system and at some level we have to play by the rules if we want to survive.
Guess we all have to live with some level of hypocrisy. But once we are AWARE of it, we can actively swim against the stream. UP and not DOWN 🙂
Yes, thanks - I like that :)
Exactly, man, exactly. People suck up to the powerful and only say what makes other people like them back. Everybody is afraid of speaking his mind because nobody might like him anymore. What a shame. This way only half of the truth gets out, the popular side. The unpopular side is ignored. Truth cannot be dependent on how many like to hear it. Thats why I ROCK THE SINKING BOAT! Resteemed! 🙂
Top resteem :)
Thank you, I think he nailed it there 🙂
That's why I dig your style, @herrleeb! Per usual, we tend to see each other around!
Birds of feather flock together! Good to see you here 🙂
100% Upvoted, @lexicographer! This is such an important point for this platform. We have to be grounded in our values. It's ok to post for marketing purposes for people making a living on steemit, but the point is to truly create Valuable content in posts, not to solely post-for-value gained! It should be exercise in integrity. Bringing value back to what we do for "money" and with open sourcing, contributing what we think is "of value" to and for the community. Steemit has the opportunity to create a better system, not just do the same old thing. Followed ya!
I absolutely ignore “the money” and just post what I am thinking about or something I had a hand in helping create. Fuck a bunch of Capitalist Brainwashing Repetition. Re-Steemed this finely worded post.
Keep yelling, explaining the truth regardless of 'popular' sentiment.. sincerity is priceless.
Without principles we are nothing.
Good post, one might only look at the multiple videos here and on other platforms "how to make x dollars on posts" etc.
There are some great educational videos too, but when I just want to get to know how it all works, I despair when they start on about looking for whales etc.
I guess it really comes down to the type of person you are... giving or taking.
That's the truth – how life is, both here and in 3D.
Strategies
If you want unpopular ideas to take root, you need to prepare the ground. We all start with a reputation of 25 here. On my second day, I made an honest (not even confrontational) comment in a whale's post. Short story version: flag-happy whalebots visited me – the next day my reputation had bombed to 16, making my posts even less visible than they already were. I'd effectively put a gag on myself. It was a dumb move on my part and I learned from it.
It's important to network with others who share similar ideas. Grow in strength and numbers. So far, I've not shied away from posting about issues that aren't exactly PC. The truth's important to me too but to avoid being that voice in a vacuum, it makes sense to avoid making too many enemies before you get a strong tower from which to broadcast.
Thanks @herrleeb for showing me this post.