The man in this picture was in his honeymoon and died of the shark bites he received shortly after taking it. He didn't intend to take such selfie, he was just surprised by the shark when he plunged into the water. The photo was automatically uploaded to Facebook right after he snapped it and immediately became a viral sensation.
What an unlucky guy, he became famous for the way in which he died, unintentionally. Anyhow, there are other people who risk their lives just for the sake of becoming famous or the adrenalin, and go about climbing buildings, hanging over cliffs or getting close to tornados just for the sake of hoarding Instagram likes or Facebook comments (see pictures at the end of this post).
We live in an era that pushes individuals down the rabbit hole of the search for instant fame and riches.
Greek mythology, in a way of reflecting the weaknesses of human nature, is a full study of how individuals fall into the trap of their weaknesses, and fail to realize that their mortality and flaws are the seeds of failure and discomfort in life.
In the myth of Narcissus, the story talks about how Narcissus, a Thespiae in Boetiae hunter known for his beauty, proud as he was in the way in which he disdained those who loved him, was attracted by Nemesis to a pool in a river, where upon seeing his own reflection in the water he fell in love with it, not realizing it was merely an image. Unable to detach himself from the beauty of his reflection, Narcissus lost his will to live. He stared at his reflection in the water until he died, thus giving way to the term narcissism, a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance.
I see social networks full of Narcissus' taking pictures of themselves in the most stupid of situations, fighting to see their face on TV or mentioned in some post, even if ephemerally, putting their most precious asset, their lives, at stake for the sake of standing out from the crowd. Fair enough, everyone deserves their five minutes under the sun, but, aren't we giving the worst of examples to our kids and youth in glorifying fame and riches? Aren't we giving in to the superficial instead of the essence, to the shell instead of the core?
I remember when I was young, my schoolmates wanted to be doctors or lawyers like their parents, astronauts, pianists, scientists or engineers... nowadays kids just want to be famous... or rich.... soccer players for the most sophisticated ones... Its a clear example of how the end justifies the means.
I'm an avid reader, and that obsession has obviously spilled over in my interaction with Steemit and its community. I'm reading a lot of content daily. Further than that, I'm trying to curate a list of Spanish written posts in a way of redistributing revenue to their writers as well as fostering the adoption of Spanish in Steemit, and posting one Spanish poem a day with their English translation. The result of this reading/interacting overload is witnessing the yet blurry formation of a landscape in my mind, where individuals seem to generally auto-distribute themselves into four major categories;
a.- Those who produce high quality content to generate revenue whilst sharing their knowledge in an specific field with the rest of the world. Fair enough, money driven.
b.- Those who just write for the love of writing, engaging an audience and generating some revenue along the way. Fair enough, passion driven.
c.- Those who just write and get involved out of curiosity and intelectual restlessness, and want to find out what is this Steem thing that has taken the cryptocurrency world by storm, and generating some revenue along the way. Fair enough, curiosity driven.
d.- Those who just produce s@#t expecting to become rich and famous instantaneously. Not fair enough, go dilute your almost non-existent essence somewhere else.
I believe the future of Steem should be based upon the three first types. The last type, the get rich quick type ads no value in the end. These are the guys who plagiarize, tag themselves as experts or gurus, flag other people fo not mentioning them in a post, or simply don't care what goes on just as long as their void objective of making a quick buck is reached.
I'm here for the long term, sometimes I'll have more availability, sometimes less, but I see myself contributing in the long run.
And, now, who are you, what is your objective? Maybe you should be uploading Jackass videos to Youtube.
As a final note, I respect everyone's choice to do what they want, post what they choose, express themselves in whatever way they see fit to reach whatever goals they want to achieve, this is what the 21st century should be about, this is what, according to my vision of things, the decentralized movement is about, boosting individual freedom through the use of mathematics and cryptography, thus reinventing money and finances, not just in the developed world, but empowering individuals in every corner of the world.