Imagine having a social media website in 1284 A.D when feudalism ruled! It would be similiar to Steemit - Steemit looks like a new feudal online social system!
I salute You and I bow to You,
my dear noble Ladies, Sirs, knights and also You pesky peasants out there!
In this article I'll try to compare Steemit with the medieval feudal system.
The feudal system
In medieval times society was a hierachry. At the top was the king, then there were the high-ranked nobles and hich ranked church representatives, like cardinals and bishops. Then there were the knights, vasalls to the nobles, living on their given territory and giving land and protection to the peasants who did the actual work on the farms and at their crafts.
It was all about land ownership. The King gave land to the nobles, who gave it to their knights who gave it to the peasants. The peasants did the work, payed taxes and served in the armies of the knights and nobles. The knights were loyal to their Lords and supported them in their wars. All all served the king!
Place in society was determined by birth and heritage. And the church confirmed this was a god-given system!
The feudal system of steemit
The founders of Steemit can be compared to the kings ruling the Steemit world. They pre-mined and own most of the Steemit and Steem power. They set the rules for the steemit world, its functions and features. They also decide how much and in which way is paid out to the community. They grant and refuse payments and priviledges.
Steem power is like land in medieval times. It determines the position in the hierchary and the (voting) power and priviledges someone can have on steemit.
Whales are the new nobles
The whales on steemit are the early adopters, those who were close to the developers and had a head start and much influence right from the beginning. Or who got the attention and good-will of other whales and the developers who upvoted them into this new noble status. Or who got to whale-status by investing a lot of money early on.
The two Kings running steemit can't be everywhere and read all the posts themselves, but now the new class of nobles on steemit (whales) can do more of it: They can grant priviledges, attention and payments to the knights and peasants by upvoting their articles. Their sheer amount of steem power enables them to do so.
They have much power, their votes count much more as those of a simple peasant. So they can upvote or condemn by downvoting aspiring posts by the working peasants and the peasants can't do much about it if their post gets stomped into the ground by a powerful noble. The peasants depend on the good-will and attention of the nobles and knights.
The Kings and nobles of steemit kingdom seem to like women. A lot of posts by good-looking women, especially those in bikinis blogging about their travel experiences, seem to draw the attention of the rulers and giving them much priviledge in he form of steem power.
The knights and small nobles
The local knights in the feudal system can be compared to the dolphins on steemit. People who have earned some Steem power by publishing articles that got the attention and upvotes of nobles and other knights. These are people who actually got some moderate success by working the steemit platform as it is intented: Writing quality articles. Or by investing moderate sums of money into steemit.
The knights also grant attention and payment to the peasants by upvoting selected articles. Or punish them by downvoting.
The peasants
The peasants are the minnows on steemit with no or very little steem power and voting power. They have to work a lot by reading, curating and upvoting articles with the hope to get some pennies for doing this or to hit it big by getting the attention and upvote from knights and nobles. They form the big numbers on popular articles, but still have not much influence on the outcome nontheless. Peasants have to work a lot to earn a few steem dollars.
And the feudal steemit system rewards the rich with much steem power by giving them more steem power in relation to what they already have. The peasants only get pennies on their small number of steem power. So the rich get richer and the poor stay poor.
At steemit You can't get ahead by Your own work and effort. Your success on steemit is a granted priviledge, depending on the good-will of steem-power rich nobles and knights. You can write as many quality articles as You want...if nobody with some influence and steem power upvotes them, You get nothing. (As a journalist at a newspaper in the real world, You'll get payment for each line of text You write.)
In a modern democracy its "one man- one vote". At feudal steemit its the wealth of a person, not his quality written content that determines the influence of a vote.
In medieval times kings and rich nobles had musicians, artists and writers at their courts. Often these creative people, depending economically on the good-will of their Lords, created art and texts singing praise of their Lords. Or in simpler words: They kissed the rear of the people they depended upon.
Here at steemit You can observe the same: Many peasants writing rear-licking and rear-kissing, positive and non-critical content in their replies and comments, hoping to get an upvote from a noble and knight to make a few pennies.
the church
In medieval times the church worked close together with the political leaders, kings and nobles. The high ranking positions in the church like popes, cardinals and bishops often came from noble families. The church supported the feudal system as a god-given system and affirmed the crowned rulers in their position at the coronations. They were evangelists of the system. And we have a lot of preachers and priests among the steemit community as well, who spread the good news about steemit all over the internet. Who often are immune to critics and defend the feudal steemit system against critical questions asked. Steemit- the new replacement religion of the crypotcurreny nerds? ;-)
The jester
Sometimes kings had a jester at their court for his entertainment or the entertainment of his people. Jesters provided fun and entertainment, but they also served a special role: Being satirical and making parodies, criticizing the powers, flaws of their reign and general problems! We have these jesters here at steemit as well: They are the people making fun of flaws, making parody posts like the guys making a parody of the makup tutorials that got so many votes. Its good to have them here. They provide fun and entertainment and they point out flaws of the system, but don't really change anything at all. Just like in real life 800 years ago... :-)
So You see why steemit is a new feudal online society with all ingredients a true feudal system needs.
Thanks for reading! Do You agree? :-)
(Disclaimer: English is not my first language. Pictures from pixabay.com)
Do You want to know why beer became food in medieval times?