Dues

T.K. McNeil 

The idea of merit, laughable as it may seem, is very strong in most societies. Western ones anyway. Tied in with the idea of “justice”, most do not like the idea has made gains which they have not properly earned. Alleged “ill-gotten gains” being and an old and powerful accusation in polite society. Creativity is no different, which is why there is the idea of “selling out.” A truly stupid word which can't even make up its mind on what it wants to mean. First meaning a creator who changes major parts of their art to make more money, it is now slung at anyone who makes any money at all. Like the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Stooges, all of who signed to major record labels.

When “sell-outs” happen, whether it is real or imagined, usually imagined, there is a set of cringe that can be heard around the world. Particularly among the producer's “fans.” Such moves towards actually wanting to make a living for one's work, perish the thought, used to be blamed on the callously, crapulent, corporate interests of the commercially consummate companies that ran the music business. With the glorious rise social media, beginning with the much martyred Napster in terms of music, the so-called “Gate-Keepers” assumed to be ruining everything were completely and utterly overthrown, there being nothing but the new media left after the mighty struggle culminating in the year of victory 2010. After which their rose a brave, new, egalitarian media based entirely online in which literally anyone could put out literally anything and, potentially, build an international audience. Just as the designers and original promoters of the internet intended. This revolution of hearts and minds has led to the assumption in some quarters that it is now too easy for anyone to build a career in arts or journalism. If anything it has made people more honest and open to trying new things, which on the whole is a positive result. As we all know there has never been anything negative to come out of digital media and the long-ago destroyed “traditional” media had nothing but garbage in it. Who needs the difficult to read ravings of Jonathan Swift or Shakespeare when we have the independent genius of The Young Turks and Web-Series in which to bask.

For anyone who are still holding on to the decimated old media system who thinks that those who rise to heights similar to those formerly allowed before the traditional mainstream media's inevitable downfall have not earned it, are clearly completely unaware of social media if not computers, the review system being far more rigorous than any that has existed before. Rather than being based on arbitrary and self serving criteria of “quality” and what might “sell”, the new system of enlightened individuals instead assess what content will ascend to the heights of internet stardom, based entirely who they know and what they like.

Some might call this “pandering” and trying to “be everything to everyone” but they simply do not understand how the principle of fairness works and how a Soviet-style review board with no distinction between producer and audience is the ideal way to go about things. 

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