Do you ever feel as if only a handful of real people are actually connecting with your content?

Today I read a post from @guiltyparties, which stated that 95% of Steem content is plagiarized bullshit. It makes me slightly sad, or maybe slightly mad. Neither of these strongly though. It kind of just shows how desperate or greedy people are to make some money.

I can actually empathize with why someone would try to pull that shit, I can actually understand it. That doesn't mean I condone it. For most people, working isn't fun - it actually sucks. And somehow we have gotten ourselves into a situation where the economy is forcing everyone to work. It's needlessly difficult to make a living, and we continually get exploited and manipulated.

I too hold the childish dream that the internet will give me magic money, I have adapted the dream and am willing to put lots of work into it - yet it remains a dream that I think many people share.

People want shit they don't need, and our well being and happiness is being degraded . A little bit of extra cash sounds like just the ticket, especially when we are programmed to believe that more money will increase our happiness. Or in the case of developing countries, it actually will make a big difference to quality of life.

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In this kind of social system and economic climate, is it any wonder that people act without any integrity? We look around and see that many successful people have no moral capacity whatsoever. Making money is synonymous with being disconnected - so people do some crazy shit which defies common sense. We chase that cash, and in playing that game we throw away integrity and sensitivity toward other humans.

I don't think that this is necessary at all, and in fact I think it's a bad move for both ourselves and the systems we work within. Doing 'whatever necessary' (despite a bad feeling about it) is a short term survival way of operating. Quite frankly I am a little bored of that shit - it's been done repeatedly for centuries and perpetuating it is the least exciting possibility that we have.

There are some incredible potentials for human beings right now, these are the things that I dream of coming to fruition. A utopian world where we stop fighting like children, liberating the time and resources to research who we really are - and the extent of our marvelous consciousness.

I guess it takes a level of perception to see that our actions add up to the kind of social system that we are REALLY voting for (your actual vote is rather meaningless). And it takes a level of strength to go against conditioning and safety, and to act according to our own moral compass - not just what you can get away with or what is largely accepted.

W E - O U T - H E R E

I am really glad that since coming on to this platform that I have had some good mentors to show me that it's important to make quality content, and to be an actual human being interacting in a human way. Shout out to @tribesteemup, and all of the folks who helped me early on like @mistermercury, @amariespeaks, @pracicalthought, as well as the folks who ran competitions and curated one or two of my posts. Big love to everyone else who isn't coming to mind right now. Big love to the esoteric and tarot community. Big love to everyone who has inspired me. Big love to everyone with a sense of humor and something nice to say.

In fact big love to all the 'Real Steemers' who are making an effort to reach out and connect with other human beings.

Integrity is really important, and if we really want to 'make it' as writers and content creators then it's about developing our skills and putting good shit out there. What I have learned - is that the most important thing is actually engaging with people and building a community, also called a following or a fan base.

It can be a little strange though, when people don't seem to be on the same vibe as you. Even though I realise I need to connect with many more people - I am rarely motivated to comment on things unless it actually excites me. Some weeks there doesn't seem like many posts to get your teeth into, or when I do get excited it's often someone I already know - and is getting my vote anyway.

I am coming up on a 0.04 vote currently, take that dust thresh-hold! I want to give my vote to people making 'lit' content.

There are some lights of hope here and there though, and I am always excited to see certain people come through my feed (@taskmaster4450 for one) - sometimes looking up their accounts to double check for anything new. It's been a little dead over the last week or so, perhaps these eclipse energies beaming the earth, perhaps the fall in bitcoin price - who knows?

All in all I am grateful to be here, and I am very curious to see what grows out of Steem in general. My feeling is that we can learn a lot from what happens here, and with an upgraded version we could cut out a lot of bullshit, bots, and abuse. Getting more rewards to the content creators - with a big middle finger to the old economy and all of its game playing and advertising.

It really is a strange time to be alive, with what's not working becoming more and more obvious - yet still the majority too unaware or unwilling to take a chance on something new. For me Steemit represents that something new, it's a start on something new and hopeful.

These are my steemit thoughts, would love to hear what you think about quality and engagement, and the future or Steemit - or what it will evolve into. How are you finding new 'real steemers' to get involved with?

Peace
Gratitude
Abundance