There is no God

but money

in a heartless world

~

I will take your hope

so I can buy mine

says the modern nihilist

 

I like to listen to podcasts, some tech news, scientific news and interviews, gaming, and formula 1. Most of the podcasts I listen to come from America; this is interesting because it gives you an insight into parts of the American psyche. You get this also through movies and series, but that is more filtered and edited; podcasters, and some YouTubers, don’t play a role; it feels more real.

There are some significant differences between what Americans find normal and what is Normal where I come from. In one of the podcasts, they talked about the Twitch leak, where a lot of internal data was visible for all to see, including what some of the streamers earned when they streamed their gameplay. For the people that don’t know what I talk about, it is these days popular to watch people play their games, some are really good, or they just make an exciting show out of it. I like to play video games to, and when I start a new game, I also like to see a more experienced player show me what to do or expect. I personally like the less polished video’s from YouTubers that do it on their own, there are also YouTubers that run a whole studio, and they produce polished videos with the same qualities as you see on TV. On Twitch, you also find a range of qualities, and in these leeks, we learned that some of the more popular streamers make millions a year.

I don’t know exactly what I have to think of it, and my first thoughts are that it is a little excessive.  But what I always hear in these shows is that they tell with great bombast and excitement how much these people earn but also immediately tell that they don’t have a problem with that.  So, I always wonder: if it is no problem, why is it then news in your show, just don’t talk about it. But that is typical American, telling what someone makes as some sort of measurement. And the excuse that follows is often that it is backbreaking work to make these shows; they have to edit and work all the time, they earn that money because they work so hard…good for them. I don’t know about you, but when I hear that, I also hear that a mother with three kids who works full-time with extra shifts is lazy as hell and doesn’t deserve to earn more than a minimum income. People who stream games started that because they loved to do that, not because they had to it.

I think it is ok that entertainers earn a lot of money, but only after everybody else is taken care of. I am also curious why people believe that they deserve more money because they work so hard; how would they know that other people don’t work hard? I understand that you want more money if you have more responsibilities than your colleagues, but keep it reasonable. It is a complex topic because money is still important, and for most people is the only way out of their personal(not financial) misery they think; I just hope that in the future, people work because they know it has to be done. We should also realize that the excessive consumption that drives our economy should be slowed down, it forces a lot of people to do demeaning work, and we destroy the environment with all this excess.