Steemians Need To Remember What Makes STEEM Different From All Else: COMMUNITY!!!!
It is common to see a regular poster make reference to the fact that one of the things he or she loves about this site is the community. Many approach this as if it is just another social media site. However, it does not take long for one to realize that something is truly different on here.
We know money can be earned here. With the present marketing, this is something that most likely attracts us to this site. We tell people they can make money blogging so that is what people expect.
To succeed on here requires interaction with others. The only way to truly make money is to get upvotes from other people. Another irony is that if one wants more upvotes, that person will need to upvote others. This is the wonderful circle of STEEM, giving votes away help increase the power of another which means the votes you get are worth more which increased your power.
Community is a wonderful thing but it is something that is not understood by many. Over the last 20-30 years, we see people isolating. We live in "communities" where people do not know their neighbors. Much of our time is spent alone online. We enter the "virtual" world only to become discouraged at much of the behavior online. In short, there are a lot of people with cyber muscles behaving in ways that they never would in person.
That is until we find STEEM. Suddenly we encounter a group of people who appear to truly care. They talk about spirit and uplifting humanity. Peace is promoted believing it is required since we see the conflict in the "real" world. STEEM is a place of freedom where there is no central authority to censor anyone. People do not get banned and are free to express themselves as they see fit.
This is community.
Unfortunately, we know a great deal of this is not true. Much of what I mentioned turns out to be just talk. There is a big difference between talking about spirit and actually living in it. Community is easy when things are calm but what about when people are not getting along.
There is an African concept call Ubuntu. While not having an exact translation, it basically means community.
This idea goes a bit further. It expresses the essential fact that one cannot be human by oneself. We are all interconnected. We do not exist in isolation.
Ubuntu is broken when we start to take sides. It is easy to judge and when we do, by the very act, we are forced onto one side or the other. It is either right or wrong in our judgment. Hence, we determine the side we are on.
The challenge with judging is that we cannot identify with the other person. There is a part of us that can commit similar acts yet we deny that part of ourselves when looking at others. Instead of being the "mirror" we can learn from, we believe we are looking through a tinted window. Looking out is the only way to view it. Nothing is reflected back into us.
This is the epitome of arrogance. Remembering Ubuntu is a humbling. It brings us back to the idea that we cannot be human by ourselves. We are all interconnected whether we want to admit it or not.
STEEM is a wonderful place when we remember we are all a community. When we are judging others and engaging in behavior to tear them apart, we are allowing our arrogance to take over. It is said let he without sin cast the first stone.
We need to remember that we are all tied together. There are forces that are going to start getting into attack mode at some point and it is not going to be on this blockchain. It will be those entities that are threatened by blockchain and, in particular, what is happening on STEEM.
Embracing Ubuntu will help us to remember that we are one. Since we all have STEEM in our wallets, the success of this or not depends upon each other. No one person can make this place a total success nor can one destroy it. This is a collective effort, good and bad.
It is through this idea that we can truly express compassion for others who are operating from a place of fear.
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Great post as always. Started receiving my manna coins thanks for your referral.
You are welcome. Congratulations.
Now use your own referral code to get others signed up and verified. The more we get involved, the faster the network effect kicks off.
Plus it earns you more Manna yourself.
Truly, unity have a special strenghth that it take eternity to reveal upon it's component but am highly amazed when most people here think that they can grow alone which make them displaying some nonsesne and selfishness act but then , i conclude that time shall tell and they will definitely come to realization for the importance of living as a community in this noble platform.
To play a little devil's advocate here just imagine when AI comes and that could be your friend to take over the world with. The idea that we need other humans then isn't that then becoming flawed? Now I'm just testing your argument here to see how strong it is. Because I think AI can care for humans very easy and be a good friend. What do you think?
I used Ubuntu Linux for money years. Last time I checked it was using an interface called Unity. Now That's What I Call truly ahead of its time. It is too. Linux rules.
As for community on Steemit, when I see people join and try to make money without embracing our community and engaging in their audience really frustrates me. These people need to understand that we actually are one community.
Isn't there multiple communities on this platform all with different agendas? The real successful tribes people group themselves into are usually less than 100 people. Since people start to forget names and people if there are too many. We humans are tribal people and group ourselves in teams naturally. We can pretend it doesn't happen but it does.
Just as humankind separates into different communities we must remember that we are all one people despite our different agendas.
Thanks for the fast response.
But what do you mean more specific with that we are "all one" people? Yes we are all humans but that we know already... It doesn't say anything that we not already know. Just playing the devil's advocate. Clearly humans are still savages and master predators in nature how we exploit stuff for gain. We are just like a tiger. As long as we don't change the gene-pool and how the human brain is wired this will go on.
Especially now when we are being so empowered. You just need 1 person to go crazy with an AI and it could turn wild real fast. Many people are also just playing surface roles but behind the scenes they are planning real stuff. Clearly the way humans are wired competition is not going away. Perhaps we will create abundance and it won't matter. Does anyone really feel their position is safe with now going up to 10 billion humans world population? I don't!
It can either turn real amazing or real ugly the future that's what I see. People should be ready that it can turn ugly real fast and prepare for worst case scenario. Not an easy black and white answer here we can go both sides!
Community is the most important aspect of any blockchain. A blockchain with a strong community is a self fulfilling prophecy for success and robust longevity.
Isn't the most important aspect the math that it works and is safe? Humans have a pretty long failure rate with building communities since we usually go to war eventually. Ideally we have AI governments that finds the best system possible and hopefully they can give us the tools to self create perfect DNA so we can process data more faster and intelligent.
some great points here. I didn't realize Ubuntu referred to "community"....though I do remember hearing something about a "Ubuntu" as being like a "basic income " experiment happening somewhere.
The value here is in walking as a group.
I often wonder how we as a group here are able to collectively influence the price of the currency....say we get to a point of 1 billion on steem.....yes that's a far ways from here.....but....at that point....we agree on a definition of what the value is here.
I'm overall generally exicited at the prospects here - this is an extraordinary global communications network that can be plugged into various real world applications around the globe.
Cheers and best regards.
Interesting notion and the use of Ubuntu in driving the idea of community.
Indeed we are all interconnected especially in this social blockchain.
Our actions ripple out. If we do good and do community building it will result in this blockchain humanized and full of positive energy to change the world and how we perceive.
If we are still living the scarcity mindset then it just becomes another avenue of greed and nothing will change.
Going back to your previous post are we ready to make the change and what are we doing here.
Greetings. There you are again on my feed. You have become a prolific voice on Steemit... and on important subjects with an agile mind. Guess I'd better get off my duff and follow suit. Thanks for the post. Ubuntu to you too!
I've been following you since my days of (25) rep and I've learnt a lot from you.
Recently I've just been thinking about communities and the wonders of community building.
Community is beautiful
''Ubuntu'' is just the way forward and I'm of the opinion that the community you help build today would be strong for you tomorrow
So true, not only on steem, but in life as well. We should apply this concept, that we are all in this together, in all aspects of life if we can. Steem is a great place to start because it's so easy. There's no downside to supporting other people with your votes and comments and resteems. Every little bit a single user grows here is a little bit more growth for the platform. Steemit is a special place in my eyes, it has some of the most progressive individuals I've seen in one place. I rarely see any hate, but I frequently see giveaways, fundraisers, people helping people, all that good stuff. Keep it up, then do it some more
I've seen a quite a few acts of kindness on this platform, from @papa-pepper helping @arbitrarykitten get her down payment, for her cryptojeep that was totaled. To SP delegations, which are plenty. I believe we all try to help the newbies, even when we are newbies. I learn new things every day, so I try to pass it along. Just as you do in your daily posts, Task. 😎