A few months ago, I walked by a bunch of beggars sleeping al fresco. As I walked by, I wondered if beggars have sex. Then I remember thinking that they were lucky bastards.
They get something for free that the rest of us have to pay for.
But sex is not an end in itself. There is good sex and bad sex. There is quota-filling sex, and then there is OMFG sex. Just because beggars may have something called “sex” doesn’t mean anything.
Content is pretty much the same way.
We are living in a world where people think that retweeting content is journalism. Where people write serious posts stating that it doesn’t matter how good your content is, it only depends on how many people you know. A world where creating top ten lists will catapult you into wealth and fame.
Anyone who has read SuperFreakonomics knows that there is inherent difference between hookers on the street and professionals who demand hundreds of dollars an hour. The former’s customers want to fill some sort of quota. The latter’s clientele has a fantasy fulfilled.
Sure there are Indians that may be able to write the Kama Sutra, but most Indian content writers for pay are simply providing low-cost, non-creative, barely-readable content written solely for search engines. To fill some sort of quota.
The only emotion running through my body while reading their content is disgust.
But you get what you pay for. High class, err, bloggers demand top dollar. And they deliver. Over and over again. On a constant basis. They don’t simply do what everyone else does, they have a full bag of tricks that they bring to the party. They innovate. They make you question the sheer legality of their writing.
I’m not saying that the reader always has to pay.* A creative blog owner will figure out another way to monetize his or her property. But the onus should not be on the content creator. People with certain skills are always in demand. For the highest bidder.
Most would agree that sex is bought and sold. Those who value it more, pay more. They form a certain elite, moving in their own circles, and enjoy the experiences and not just actions.
I received a troubling email today from my brother. He ran an extremely elite list in the field of Jewish Studies, sending weekly emails that took hours of research to prepare, with an intellectual acuity and an academic breadth unparalleled by most of his contemporaries. Much of the content provided was only obtainable in select university or national libraries in various countries around the world. He was able to write content that would allow both the educated layman as well as the seasoned academic learn something new. He invested time and effort in this venture.
And now he stopped.
He performed a cost/time benefit analysis and arrived at the conclusion that it was not financially prudent for him to continue. Knowing my little brother, he is going to be running a respected academic journal by age 30. This email was not the last that his thousands of list-members will hear of him. But his cost is going to go up. Whereas, people had the opportunity to sponsor emails or pay a relatively low yearly subscription fee, it is going to cost a lot more to get the same information in the future.
For me, the cessation of his weekly email is more troublesome than the stopping of the printed version of the Digital section of the Guardian. The Guardian was for the masses, this email was for an elite. The content of the Guardian is still available, albeit online, but my brother’s content is not.
The world is not going to end. Everyone is just going to be satisfied with mediocre sex. And that is a travesty.
* Full Disclosure: I did purchase copies of Andrew Keen’s and Paul Carr’s physical books because I enjoyed the content that they published online. Both Andrew Keen and Paul Carr are paid by some online entity for their writings well.
Our palates have been dulled by too much junk food. Junk food sex, junk food content. It adds up.
Relevant post from RRW
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/content_farms_impact.php
Ditto netmeg. Unfortunately, the vast majority of consumers wouldn’t recognize the difference between good content (or sex) and bad, which is why there is so much bad out there. And the good gets harder to find, drowned out by the chorus of Cheap Nude Girls!
I’ve worked off and on as a volunteer with homeless people, did a 3 year stint in Tokyo, night tours twice a week and food distribution on Sundays. Many of the men were middle-aged, former company workers, victims of Japan’s economic slump in the 90′s. I made friends with one guy, as far as that is possible, he could reel off all the States in North America. It became sort of a running joke between us. More of a memory exercise for him. From the little that I’ve seen, there’s nothing remotely ‘lucky’ about sleeping rough. It’s a continual daily struggle to find energy supplies. Food and warmth. Upon waking, half of your energy has already been consumed overnight by your body’s inevitable compensation for the lack of heat. You quickly develop routines that revolve around predictable sources of food and money. When not out scavenging, much of the day is taken up by states of semi-sleep, often alcohol induced. That’s just on a physical plain. The psychological toll it takes is equally as debilitating, more so in a country like Japan where social status is as much a prerequisite for survival as the air your breathe. I’d be surprised to find frequent sexual activity as a behavioural pattern amongst homeless people…I could be wrong.
Andrew,
Point taken.
In my defence, it was in Tel Aviv in beautiful weather.
I just remember that I was walking home, alone, from a club and for some strange reason, that was my initial reaction to seeing them.
ez
Oh no attack intended. I’m by no means holier-than-thou. Just like to think about which side of the street we walk on.
Unfortunately, I do think about that. A lot.
The Blogger has a lot in common with both the Beggar and the Hooker. We use different names, but the reliance on others is the same.
Thank you making me think today.
Sorry to read that your brother stopped. Would have loved to read some of his content.