I like your perspective on things. I finished reading the whitepaper recently and was also struck by the story of the crab bucket. It put me in mind of a saying that people have in Japan, where I live: the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. The implication is that individualism is to be suppressed in favor of being one with the group. Which I think is a really sad way to approach life. I constantly find myself reminding my daughter that it's OK to be different, and you don't necessarily have to go along with the crowd all the time.

Freedom of speech is supposed to be encouraged on Steemit, but I worry that maybe people won't speak their true minds for fear of running afoul of the reputation system. Reputation can be a double-edged sword: it can protect against people who only desire to do harm to the community, but it can also mute people who don't deserve it. I would never flag any post simply because I disagree with the expressed opinion or don't share the author's particular philosophy / religion / outlook on life / etc. Flagging should be reserved for truely abusive, exceptional instances. If you don't like something, then simply don't upvote it.

And to the whales who wield a large amount of power with their votes, I would offer a reminder from one of my favorite superhero movies: with great power comes great responsibility.