Fool Us Once, Shame on You. Fool Us Twice, Shame on Us!! Berwickism, and "The Prom Queen Culture"

Shame on You!!

First of all let me introduce myself, I am a complete novice to Steemit, this is my second day as a member and my first post. Although my presence of Steemit is a very new one, my knowledge of how this site works is not. One thing I will say, is that people like @dollarvigilante have encouraged me to come here, while also, paradoxically, they have discouraged my excitement, my hope and my dreams, by demonstrating an elitist mentality and creating a lopsided playing field. This is about a platform that should add value to those who earn it, add substance to those who use it and discourage those who abuse it.

This post is not an attack on someone who has spent the last two decades building up his reputation online, but IT IS an attack on the audacity in which he engaged on the platform, without actually adding more value, and enhancing peoples experience of the site. Instead he has created a division among it's members which in turn has raised some interesting issues regarding ethical posting. That was an inevitable scenario. The fact of the matter is, if it wasn't @dolarvigilante it would of been someone else who rattled the cages of the Steemit Serfs.

Some people who may be on the side of @dollarvigilante may consider my post to be bordering malicious, hypercritical and born off the back of jealousy. I am sorry to disappoint, but it couldn't be further from the truth. My reason for posting is to bring forward the issue of ethical posting, and to raise awareness within the community that it is posts like this which hold the greatest danger for a mechanism that has the potential for a dynamic, and progressive shift in society. This is not a time to be sentimental, this is a time for collective embodiment of the society we are striving to create. A society of "Just Reward"

Berwick's Not To Blame!!

Although I don't condone the manner of the the post I don't hold him to blame for his "Over-night Success". To quote the headline:"How I made $15,000 in 12 Hours on the New Blockchain Based Social Media Site Steemit", it paints an illusion of what Steemit is, and most importantly what it should be. THIS IS NOT WHAT STEEMIT SHOULD BE, an opportunists market where vulturesque elitists are allowed to come in, and in one swoop diminish the chances of the unknown poster. It is this sort of inequality which has created class division throughout the world, which in turn has spawned the impetus for seeking an alternate monetary system for a disenfranchised society. Now, so early on in Steemit's infancy, we are faced with the threatening prospect of anarchy within an anarchist heavy platform. We are better than that, and we must not fall folly to the temptation to reward empty content, if we do, then we are no better than a Kardashian loving fuckwit.

Shame On Us!!

@Steve-walschot wrote a brilliant post "Are we Only Here to Feed the Narcissists" that uttered the sentiments that i just brought forward, and his post was based on the premise that someone of Berwicks stature should not be bragging about his winnings while rubbing it in the faces of the fortune seeking unknowns. And on this, I wholeheartedly agree. This is what leads me onto my next point. The nature of Steemit means that we are unable to stop anyone from posting what they want, although you are able to flag a post. Our only power lies in our upvote, therefore, this is a call on all Steemit users to please use your vote wisely, and please refrain from rewarding people who are undeserving. This "Prom Queen Culture" is what has left many of us disillusioned with a society that rewards narcissism, and what we are confronted with now is the opportunity to reverse this trend.

The beauty of Steemit is that we the users hold the key as to what we reward, and despite my anger of rewarding content that is not deserving, I am not endorsing a begrudging mentality when it comes to rewarding well known members. Good content is good content, and that is the simplistic version of how content should be rewarded. People work hard for days on content that gets ignored, is this the society we wish to create? Do we want to destroy this revolution before it has even begun, by suffering an amnesic breakdown as to why we are actually here.

We're here to write good content, and get paid for it. To create a culture that rewards your efforts without falling into the narcissist's trap. It's easy to fall folly to the charms of who and what is popular, but, is that not the reason you are here, to change that mentality, to reward to brave, and not the privileged, to acknowledge hard work and contribute to something we all believe in. We live in a society where we are controlled by a few, now, let us create a society that does not favor the few, but rather, a society that is ours, through the collective ideology of just reward.