By Matt Gowel
I am not exactly known for my website engineering skills, so when I decided to start this blog, I turned to the same place people have been going for niche technical issues since its founding in 2005: Reddit. I landed on one of the main blogging subreddits, simply know as r/Blogging. However, as I slowly scrolled through the top posts, I found a dull pang of disappointment building within my skull; this community wasn’t discussing web design, writing styles, or even blog ideas. Everywhere I looked, the conversation was focused on one thing: how to make money. In one of the top ten posts of all time on r/Blogging, user u/aygross harkens back to a forgotten era, asking: “remember when blogs were fun and personal, not SEO garbage?” This user is speaking in reference to every other idea, strategy, or piece of advice that I could find on said subreddit. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the practice of writing blogs that include a high number of “key words,” making them more likely to appear in search results, driving unique clicks, and ultimately, increasing ad revenue. This is what almost every post was discussing. On its face, this may not seem like such a big deal. You might even be asking: “who cares if people make money from their blogs?” The issue, however, is not simply found within this subreddit, or even within this hobby. This is but a symptom of a broader trend that plagues the culture of capital. This is the commodification of that which makes us most human: our intelligence, our aptitude for art, and most of all, our creativity.
This is not an indictment of the individual who makes supplemental income from the paintings that they pour their heart into, the person who live streams themselves playing video games, or even the blogger who’s managed to earn a bit of extra money from their posts. This is a critique of a system that inspires uninspired art, necessitates creation without creativity, and drives authors to write without a subject. The very existence of such a system is an oxymoron. It is so contrary to humanity’s natural desires and inspirations that to invoke the idea of human nature in its defense is absurd. The painting you buy for fifteen bucks at your local department store is not art, for it has no soul. The cookie cutter movie produced by a billion dollar corporation is not film, for it is not made in passion. To be clear, it is possible for real art and sincere hobbies to exist under such a system, but it is strongly discouraged within it. All that really matters is profit; to hoard wealth is to be successful. Art is permissible only where it can be used to make money. Hobbies are somewhat acceptable, for they can be used to keep the working class from sitting around and thinking too much, which would inevitably lead to demands for fair pay and the meeting of their basic needs. They are especially encouraged in places that they can be used for profit. This serves a variety of purposes. First, this allows the for working class to have more spending money, without it having to come out of the billionaire’s pocket. They proceed to spend this money on their rent, some shiny new gadget, or maybe a flight to Italy, all of which, in one way or another, return to their bosses’ pockets. Further, this monetization of hobbies solidifies the indoctrination of the hobbyist into “hustle culture” and the idea that they, too, can be a billionaire. If the worker believes that the path to success truly is “hard work” and “intelligence,” then they will never see the true nature of the system, which is that luck, greed, and a lack of basic human empathy is the path to absurd wealth. Obviously, if the worker were to realize their oppression, the wealthy would not be able to continue to grow wealthier. This process of “monetization” eventually imprints the principle of “efficiency over all” unto the artist. The more art, or the more of whatever your chosen hobby produces, the more money to hand back to your boss. If you continue to be docile in their deceit, they only stand to gain further access to your bank account. The principle of efficiency wears down art; it requires faster and faster production, which erodes the thought and passion put in to each piece, leading to soulless “corporate art,” movies that have no depth, and blogs that are amalgamations of SEO keywords.
Art should have a soul. It should be ok for it to take months or years to create. Hobbies should be fun, not “side hustles” that only serve to enrich your boss. So, next time you do something for fun, try to have fun, not guilt for your lack of productivity, or suspicion that you should be “monetizing” every little thing that you do. Create for the beauty of creation. Write for a reason. Enjoy your life.
Based on What? 