RE: I'm going to do a little investigation into the down voters who do so for purely dislike, and other reasons as well as their connections to other accounts and popular "services".
I think the possession of substantial holdings (whether SP, any other currency, or of any goods or services) tends to focus the interests of the possessors, as well as reflect their interests. To an extent, this explains interest in luxury goods and services.
It is both part of the reason that SP weights VP, and an artifact of that weighting that trending articles show such content, and posts not focused on wealth tend not to trend. On a platform as transparently based on wealth as Steemit, it is preposterous to expect posts not focused on wealth to perform competitively.
While I very much like the Steemit I post on, it isn't the posts that focus on wealth I most enjoy, or pay much attention to, but those which reflect my own interests (not money). Unfortunately, just as in the real world, I have had to buckle down and consider how wealth has impacted, and will drive, Steemit, and this has brought me here, as well.
Frankly, I could not agree with you more strongly that jobs are slavery. Work is not a job. Too many conflate and confuse the two. I love work, and particularly like fixing and making stuff for people, so am a carpenter. I don't have a job, but get to work anyway =D.
Oddly, I find that I strongly agree with one of the most infamous mottos ever to disgrace honest work, "Arbeit Macht Frei", which notoriously stood over the gates of Auschwitz, IIRC. Unfortunately the desperate slavery that was promoted by that motto is the utter antithesis of my own work, and I am left shaking my head at how propaganda can deprive people that wisely consider the source of a statement, and react to the statement based only on that information.
If the Antichrist said 'love is good', that would not make love bad!
I would, however, urge you to consider how bots curating degrades human agency, as we are entering a world on Steemit, and generally, where AI and bots are imposing inhuman (by definition) values on human intercourse. Bots are of inestimable utility, but their opinions are vapid and insipid, IMHO.
Edit: atrocious grammar
There is something about craftsmanship that clears your head. You are thinking about how to make something not about all the abstract problems of the world. i sometimes jokingly refer to that as "Arbeit macht frei", ofc there is also something Marx said about "Entfremdung der Arbeit" also really interesting concept.
This is a huuuuge (Trump voice) problem in our modern society. An idea should not get value because of who said it.
I also don't mind bots. Maybe there need to be rules or etiquettes regarding bots, but a bot is in the end just a tool.
Not all jobs are slavery indeed. For example, steemit has become a bit of a job, doing what I am passionate about - travel & writing. The reality is that I could not go back to being a corporate slave again and sacrifice my spirit. But if these votebots are becoming the corporate I escaped from in the past, then I'm not going to further encourage bad behavior.
There's a difference between those people who make a lot of money on the trending page, and someone down here just trying to put food on the table, hoping that her craft would be noticed someday. I'm not being sponsored by those fancy resorts and stuff. It's 3-hour masterpiece undervalued. I'm also speaking on behalf of other undervalued writers out there, not getting seen, not the fault of others, but it is just the system at the moment.
I am not carrying a knapsack full of special provisions, and not part of the tribe flattered by the media. I live a simple life, traveling w/o bills and living off my savings. Yeah, steemit is the change I want to see in the world - do what we love, get rewarded, be free to travel the world, live anywhere, free ourselves from state control, why not?
I'm doing what I can to contribute t the community through my writings, spread awareness, promote budget travel, promote minimalist life, expose issues... But I'll stay positive. I'm still new.
I have utterly depleted my VP and need to recharge it again =/
Followed, so I can see your posts more often. I also am somewhat nomadic, and I bet I can learn from you. At least following only inundates me, rather than depleting my VP =)
Followed you back. I wish I can sleep too much and type too little... ;)
LOL Sometimes I wish I could eschew sleep altogether, but then I reflect on the dangers of Meth =p
Lol, sleep deprivation is enough, like a drug effect on me.