Create. And Keep Creating (A Thought From 2011)

Around 2011, I started closing most of my posts with two words:

Keep Creating.

I've always been a fan of creative individuals. I continue to be inspired by folks who make great things. I study and learn from many. I fight myself about not being up to a certain standard, but then I heed what Salvadore Dali once said.

"Have no fear of perfection. You'll never reach it."

I've been looking back on some of my older writings on my old Tumblr site, and I came across this piece from 2011 when I initially started using that simple two-word closer. And even though it's a 13-year-old piece from a pre-streaming media world, it still resonates, especially in an era when algorithms dominate media decisions causing them to simply destroy things "they" don't like and we had several strikes because creators continue to be used by these companies, and I'd like to share it in its entirety:

Create. And Keep Creating.

You like things, I get that.

You like to do things with things you like, I get that too.

You’re a creative individual and want to share things you do with things you like with people who also like those things. I really get that.

But every now and then, you need to look at things that you talk about and create stuff around and you have this stunning revelation. It may not hit you at that moment, and it’ll probably never hit you until you realize it, but it’s a reality that’s not only uncomfortable, but also the truth that could be summed up into these four words:

You are being used.

Think about it for a minute. Those four words hit you harder than a pickup truck sliding on an icy road, so I’ll give you a moment to get back to your feet.

You are being used by corporations bigger than you, and the fact that you’re being used isn’t exactly lost on those corporations. You’re doing a lot of free advertisement for their products, be it a television series, a movie, a comic book, a video game, a song, something you eat or drink, wear, and ride. You talk about them with like-minded fans. You promote them every chance you get. You create pictures, graphics, and fanfics centered around them. Even when you put up a pic featuring elements from those products, you’re promoting them.

You are being used.

You’re an unpaid spokesperson. You get no money for promoting those products, but every fanfic, every fan-pic, every animated GIF, every mere mention you make is advertising money those corporations don’t have to spend.

Think about it …  when was the last time you saw an ad for the show that airs on a network Fridays at 8:30 PM E/P outside of the night it actually airs on? How about that book with the guy doing that thing you like? Or that song that’s been ringing in your head all day long that you can’t stop singing?

You do more actual promotion for a product than the people who own it, and you’re being used. You just don’t know it.

Even when you criticize a product, a brand, a publisher, or an outlet, you’re promoting them.  It’s a double-edged sword, really. 

The thing that gets on my nerves about SOPA isn’t just the fact that corporations can use it to, more or less, shut down sites that infringe on copyrights (as an IP holder myself, I’m down with that; however, it’s the clear-as-mud wording about what justifies infringement that has me and a bulk of the internet feeling a bit queasy over the thing), but rather the fact that the companies that put their name on it (and lined the pockets of the Congressional members to make it a law over actual legislation that could HELP people that they’re just sitting on and aren’t in any rush to talk about let alone pass) don’t like you. They love your money. They just don’t like you, the consumer.

And why should they?

After all, you’re promoting their wares. You’re talking about everything they do either in a loving manner or a rage-filled rant. Or a happy medium. You’re shipping characters in fantasy relationships the producers are afraid to even talk about, let alone make a reality. You are the greatest asset to a company’s success and yet, you are being used by them, and they really don’t give a damn about you.

Even if you’re an employee of a company, you’re being used by them. You’re expendable. You’re a future former employee. Forever is just a word that comes after foretold and before forewarn.

The thing is these companies really need you. You kind of need them before you realize you could do it better than them.

I haven’t been on Tumblr long, but from what I’ve seen, what I’ve witnessed here and all over the internet in my 16 years online is that there are a lot of creative minds around these parts. I’ve seen artwork that put professional projects to shame and read stories most professional writers would dream of writing.

The creative class is not only prominent, but it’s thriving. It’s growing.

And there are more of us than there are of them.

So, yeah, if the US Government does decide to become the personification of the Big Brother of 1984 on us poor, swarthy netizens, it’s tragic.

But in the end, their misguided, moronic, tyrannical decisions shouldn’t be treated as last rites on the internet. We’re creators, and true creators thrive on making things. We make things, and even if it goes away, we make something better. And if THAT goes away, we make something better.

That’s what we do, not only as users of the internet, but as citizens of the creative class.

We’re creators.

We create. Always have. Always will.

And we keep creating