Hello friends.
You all suck.
Haha just kidding, I love (most) of you very much.
I have a question though. How did my first sentence make you feel? Were you shocked? Is this not something you are used to encountering on here? Perhaps. And I do hope that trolling doesn't become a rampant problem, but I am afraid we have an even bigger problem here: an echo chamber of cheerleaders afraid of dissent for fear of financial and social repercussion.
Steemit is an official self-imposed safe space.
How did we get here?
Well, this community is based on ass-kissing for upvotes. Being nice makes you money. Being honest helps the platform, but who wants to be a pauper. Amirite? (heh? Heh?) Being honest also helps grow the platform, but a lot of those with power on this platform don't want honesty, they want servitude. They want zero blowback, and zero confrontation. Growing is painful. There are many things you have to face in order to grow, but many on here don't want that. They want things to remain just as they are.
My advice: Do what you like. Do what you love. Make what you want, submit what you want, stop worrying so much about the VERY FEW that make up the powerful on here. I vlog about things that interest me. That means I often choose to give up a shot at an upvote. I also choose to talk about controversial topics, another strike against me in the upvote department. Do you know how many single fucks I have left to give about that? Zero is the answer. Zero fucks.
I try to look ahead to the future of this platform, and realize that maybe things will be different one day. If I build up a following of people who like my content, and I release content that is fun and shareable and interesting, I will have built something way greater than just towing the line of what the "powers that be" want to hear.
A word of warning however friends. The heart is a fickle mistress, and the upvote that is here today may be gone tomorrow, so don't go chasing it. Be yourself, speak your mind, step out of the safe space.
Until then, nothing at all will change.
xx~Lady Steem
