Calling all Steemians

When I first came here, during the hype phase, I was amazed at the diversity from those that were speaking truth. Today though, I can't help but taste a bitter sweetness when looking at the platform.

I love Steemit for the fact that it's decentralized & rewarding, in more ways than one, but for some reason we're now following the same misguided direction as other social media platforms.

I'm not talking about recent updates. What I'm talking about is social behavior.

I've recently noticed that we're all posting the same garbage. Not all of it is garbage obviously, but for some reason a lot of us have chosen to follow a herd mentality. Of course there are many different pseudoscience explanations for this, but for now lets stick to what we can actually see.

Fishing for votes

There's a lot of people posting similar content and a lot of these people have no idea what the fuck they're talking about.

Don't mistake my cursing as being uncivil, I'm just telling it like it is. I spend a buttload of time on this platform sieving through articles and lately most of these articles are filled with junk; people posting trending topics just to get a quick payout; posting something that took no time at all to create; posting absolute nonsense for the sake of it.

I wont point fingers because hell, I'm guilty of following the herd. I remember when I first started here, my first few posts were as real as I get. They had no images, they were straight forward, and they expressed my stance as it were at that time. I lost my way for a bit after that, chasing rewards like everyone else, but now I've since found myself again.

The problem is exactly the same on other social media websites; you see something that every one likes, so you like it, and become it. Unfortunately, what the majority likes is not always right. In fact, we're technologically advancing everyday while society becomes dumber than goldfish. Literally, the average person today has a smaller attention span than a goldfish.

It's this goldfish mentality, which is ironic when considering the ocean metaphors we already use here, that has us swimming in circles eating up each others poop. I'm pretty sick of reading/eating poop as of late, and I doubt anyone else that comes along is going to enjoy half the crap that I currently see, at least not anyone that's here for the purpose of reading something good.

Pretentious behavior on the internet

There's this culture among peers that network, that has us competing with each other for likes by showing off what we do or don't have.

We've misguided each other. We've misguided each other through the use of voting. We've been idiotic with our voice.

One thing I loved about Steemit above all else, was that I saw all these interesting articles relating to knowledge. Peers teaching peers. I almost couldn't believe it. You don't see that anywhere else on the internet because that stuff is boring to most and so the status quo chooses not to vote for it. Some of us have carried on that trend, posting individual know-how, but a lot have jumped on the bandwagon with their own uneducated dribble.

I think by now you see where I'm going with this.

We're acting pretentiously; key word, acting. Users who have no scientific background are posting articles on biological evolution. Users who have no political background are posting articles about political trends. Users without any business background are posting articles relating to the financial sector. Users who have no psychology background are telling people what to think.

Don't get me wrong, if you're self taught or hold a qualification in any of these fields then by all means post what you know, but if you have no idea what you're talking about then sit the fuck down!

Stop pretending that you know. Stop talking out your ass when someone challenges you with their comments. Stop flagging someone just because you don't understand what they're trying to tell you. Learn to be wrong when you're wrong, especially if there's enough evidence that suggests you have no clue what you're rambling about.

Anti-conflict bias

We've seen a culture of non-resistance be introduced here by none other than @dantheman through a series of articles that have swayed popular belief in his direction. I agree with a lot of what he says, but when it comes to social behavior, we each have a responsibility to stand up and correct someone when they're wrong. Being resistant to social retardation is a necessity for progression.

Here on Steemit, we've chosen to be passive when someone is wrong. Instead of correcting them, we sit by and watch them mislead people. What do you think happens when someone sees an article that's got a nice looking payout at the bottom? They believe that article is a consistent telling of how things are!

People here would rather see a post make lots of money than to see it be filled with real value. It wasn't like this when I first started. All we cared about then, through the sea of new users, was finding quality content that compared with real geniuses hitting the trending page.

I learned a lot of new things when I first came to Steemit, but lately I haven't learned shit on here. All I see are useless posts from fishermen that are fishing for votes, curated by bots and/or people that don't actually read any of it.

True value is subjective to the person who values it, and those of us who've been here for a while have already established that, however when there's a continuity of similar content/rubbish content, our overall subjective value becomes worthless. We become a herd that follows each others patterns and eventually we only change through consensus, rather than through individual productivity.

This herd mentality is devaluing our overall value. We need to stop doing what's likeable and start being ourselves, like each of us were in our introductory posts.

Don't just do what people like, do what you like and you know is right. So long as you're not physically harming anyone, there's no reason not to poke the bear and wake up an entire society that has so avidly chosen to sleep on reality.

Be real

Who cares what people like anymore anyway. Most of what people like is complete bullshit when considering the grand scheme of things. The only thing that's actually important is what you can actually learn and then teach to people.

Do your part and tell us what you know, not what you think you know.

In my most recent articles, ever since I started putting a goofy photo at the top to chill the mood, I've stayed true to who I am. That's someone who cares. I care enough to say something in public or on the internet that needs to be said, and its my duty to speak up when I know somethings amiss. Where ever something is wrong, I'm ready to help something be right, even if the thing that's wrong is me.

You could argue that it's narcissistic to act so righteously, you could argue that it's post-hoc fallacy to say one thing is because of another, you could argue that I'm calling people out because I'm jealous of rewards , but at the end of the day, unless your argument is keeping me from misleading people, then it's pointless. And just so we're clear, before you start commenting what you think you know about me on here, I'm not any of those things.

The point here is, why talk if you're not saying anything important? Why argue with those who are right when letting those who're wrong go unchecked? I've seen a lot of you call out people who are clearly right, only because you disagree with what they're saying. That's the dumbest shit ever, not only on here, but within society in general.

People need to learn to be wrong and know when something's not right. Learn to know rather than just think. Anyone can think they know something. If you walk into an insane asylum, I guarantee half of them think they are particle physicists.

Conclusion

We're each learning and we should each be helping that learning process. I wish that one day I will wake up and find I'm living in a society where we're no longer pretending and instead are prospering through the further enlightenment we can attain. That can never happen if we keep misleading each other with these simpleton social complexes.

Being real is what matters here. What you can see is factual, so speak it. Teach the world what's right from what's wrong. Stop finding buzzwords that excuse your half assed search for intelligence. Instead, find that knowledge and question it further.

A lot of text books are filled with bullshit that our elders have suggested is fact. Learn how to decipher between the bullshit and the truth, and help humanity before it destroys itself through idiocy. Learn how to decipher between fake peers and the real ones. Become the individual that you know yourself to be deep down. Find your mind, find yourself, and find your purpose. Please don't become a part of the problem that I see slowly eclipsing Steemit's realness.

Oh, and if you feel you're the opposite to everything I just said, chuck a comment below and let us know that you're an original individual!