Although, as one who volunteers a significant amount of time writing and editing "for free," I cannot unconditionally espouse every word in the following New York Times article, Tim Kreider's core manifesto is absolutely essential. His words are, ironically, even more true in a world that, in the words of Pope Francis, bows before the "tyranny of money," as in asking for some small remuneration for supposedly impractical work, one is at the very least taking the beast to task for always feeding first only those who cough up that which is most easily and frantically consumed:
I’ve been trying to understand the mentality that leads people who wouldn’t ask a stranger to give them a keychain or a Twizzler to ask me to write them a thousand words for nothing. I have to admit my empathetic imagination is failing me here. I suppose people who aren’t artists assume that being one must be fun since, after all, we do choose to do it despite the fact that no one pays us. They figure we must be flattered to have someone ask us to do our little thing we already do.
I’ve been trying to understand the mentality that leads people who wouldn’t ask a stranger to give them a keychain or a Twizzler to ask me to write them a thousand words for nothing. I have to admit my empathetic imagination is failing me here. I suppose people who aren’t artists assume that being one must be fun since, after all, we do choose to do it despite the fact that no one pays us. They figure we must be flattered to have someone ask us to do our little thing we already do.