From side hustle to second job
Why is our current culture obsessed with selling out? Sorry, I mean making money. Back in the day, people used to be shamed and dissed for selling out or making money doing what they love. Artists would lose their followings if they sold out to promote a brand or go mainstream with a record label. The idea that their authenticity was no longer centered around the art or the fans but rather transitioned toward making money. This was how it was before the '90s, but then the internet happened.
With the internet came instant connection and a new market. Social media platforms became a necessity for interacting with friends and family, and the phone call, letter, or meeting around a good old dinner table was out, and the pixelated screen in the palm of your hand was in. This triggered a massive cultural shift in the priorities of the youth during that time, starting with the millennials and all the generations that soon followed. As we all know, where the people go, advertisers quickly follow.
With online entertainment moving away from traditional formats of content like the printed page or televised programs and movies, social media is where people's eyes shifted. This led to the rise of individual creators; instead of televised networks making money from commercials, these creators shifted their focus from the craft and art, and money became the driving force. Companies and services started asking individual creators to push products, and the selling out began.
When I think to myself that this economy used to praise people who had a side hustle, aiming for a better life or pursuing what they wanted to do, instead of their current job, it was seen as a good thing. Now, a side hustle just means a second job. Everyone feels like they currently need a second job just to sustain themselves. When did we lose the ability to support a whole family, own a house, and a car on a single person's income? What happened to the nuclear family?
Late-stage capitalism, and we all know it, and we are beginning to finally see it in broad daylight. The income of the many now only goes into the pockets of the few. The only escape from this inevitable collapse is to try and become the one percent. And we all think that if we have our own brand, passive income, workshops, courses, or a side gig, we can escape this rat race. Sorry to say this, if you are following the crowd; then you aren't going to get ahead of them. Sorry, scratch that; who am I to say; you might make it, and you will never know until you try? So sell those meaningless product on your social media posts in exchange for a quick buck and your integrity?
With this current sold-out entertainment social-media thing everyone is flirting with, I keep wondering when we will all wake up and see that everything we pay attention to is always asking for money or trying to sell us something. Whatever happened to just sharing, spending time together, or selflessly helping each other without gain? This idea of "what's in it for me" is killing our culture and communities. It's stripping us of humanity, culture, and genuine connection with one another (not the internet kind of connection).
That is why our culture is obsessed with selling out because we need to find a way to pay the bills and put food on the table in this late-stage capitalist system. I'm sorry to say it, but that is just baseline, the new normal. So either become a romantic and fade away, or put up a camera, and start selling.
