The love of generic content

Supposedly, +60% of songs written broach the topic of love. Love is generic, passe, overdone, saturated... yet we still listen - we even listen to remakes about songs of love. I have sung Make you feel my Love literally thousands of times since my daughter was born and the first version I ever heard of it was sung by Adele, not Bob Dylan.

While the subject of love has been sung upon for hundreds if not thousands of years, the way it has been approached has been different with nearly every song. The words, the angle, the melody, the instruments all change but most importantly, the experience of the writer flavors the sounds, makes it theirs - their own love.

I wonder if this is the way people look at Steem content however, is it like the topic of love that gets sung in a thousand tunes or, do people place it all in the same barrel as if it is all the same song. Love me Tender by Elvis or This Love by Pantera classed as one and the same.

Is this post Steem content? After all, it is a reflection on the platform, an inward look at what makes Steem, Steem. The content is a core function of the platform as everyone knows but, is it the most important aspect? I do not think so.

Content is dead.

I don't mean the production of content is dead but, the content itself is unmoving once it has been created but, it doesn't mean that it does not move. What it moves is us, the people who consume it, think upon it and perhaps even change a little for having read it. Does a poetic masterpiece have more value than a DIY on how to change a headlight bulb?

I was "accused" the other day by a colleague for being utilitarian in my view of experience, where I do not value entertainment (or the art of it) highly. Yet, I don't think they understand the complexity of the situation, because on an unlit road in the middle of the night, the need for headlights is necessary to drive safely. Necessity trumps the masterfully written poem in this case, does it not?

While some people discuss the moral implications of Blockchain, others use Blockchains to feed their families. The value of content is always utilitarian, it just doesn't discriminate on what utility means. For some, it is the process to put food on the table, others the ability to feel like they hold knowledge and can discuss intelligently. Both are a return on action.

I hear time to time people complain about the lack of original content on Steem yet they limit their definition to what is artistic and often, the kind of art forms they themselves enjoy. Many fail to recognize the art in the creative process itself, the art in developing understanding, the art in visualization and presentation - they fail to see the person behind the painting yet feel that they understand the subject matter.

Is the art the result - or the journey?

A love song is not love, it is an illustration of love. Love was the thing that catalyzed the output and for some lucky to explore, love is the process of creation that goes into the final form. Is earning love via proxy, part of the journey to provide the space for ourselves and the ones we love to love a little more? Is there no art intertwined, no points of passion that are melded into the creation of the result? No love at all?

Isn't that what art is? Isn't it about questioning and finding solution to our needs - isn't all art utilitarian by the very nature of its design, as it is made with the specific goal of negotiating our existence and finding a better way to satisfy our hunger? We have many hungers, some in a very practical sense, some in a much more psychological sense - our need for intimacy, self-expression and validation that our existence, our life matters.

Does it matter what form this takes though, does it matter if it is through a poem, a DIY manual or a post that explores Steem, a platform that can satisfy the content requirements of all three, a place where anyone can lay down their expression for the world. No, there are no guarantees that it will be liked, commented upon, voted for - but the Blockchain accepts it all without discrimination.

We are needy by nature, it is part of our wiring to continually have hungers to fill, to only be satisfied for so long on a meal and it is what keeps us striving further, keeps us creating, keeps us finding solutions even when they are imperfect and create a new set of problems. From the moment we are conceived, we all change our world, we all move it in slight and grand ways that will never be known - we all take the journey whether we like it or not and do the best we can to satisfy the hungers we have. Doesn't that make us all artists?

Or all generic - love.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]