ARTISTS NEED BASIC INCOME!!!
Artists need basic income!!! Because many people in this dumbed-down dystopia believe that artists should always work for free. Yet in reality, artists are trapped in the same monetary pseudo-economy that everybody else is trapped in. Therefore, artists need money to survive. But when you explain that fact to certain people, they respond to you as if you're lying. These people seem to believe that artists don't need money to survive. It's as if they think artists are not human, and therefore don't have human needs. No matter how well you argue the fact that artists need money to survive, these people will continue to refuse to accept the truth that artists need money to survive. And that's why I keep saying artists need basic income!
Basic income -- or universal basic income or UBI -- is a minimum amount of money that all citizens receive whether they work or not. It is a way of reducing poverty, homelessness and income lost due to automation. But I often think of basic income as a means of transitioning to a resource based economy – a post-monetary economic system. (Insert Zeitgeist theme music here.) With basic income, artists can produce art for free and still survive. They can also produce art for profit and have additional income. Instead of dividing one's time between a "real" job and producing art, artists can produce art full-time whether they make money from it or not.
But in the capitalist pseudo-economy as we currently know it, many people who claim to support capitalism believe that artists shouldn't be allowed to practice capitalism. I suspect they believe this so they can get free labor from artists. In other words, SLAVERY! You can't call yourself a capitalist if you think only certain people should be allowed to practice capitalism. Unfortunately, a lot of people have contradictory thinking patterns and either don't know it or don't care about it. "But you hate capitalism!" Yes, I do hate capitalism. But as long as I'm trapped in the capitalist pseudo-economy, I'm going to do my best to make as much money as possible. After all, I can't survive in a monetary system without money.
And then there's the "work for exposure" absurdity. "I can get an artist to design my logo for free in exchange for exposure. Then the artist can find a paying gig elsewhere." Of course that doesn't work because all that does is get artists more "exposure" and no income. Besides, plumbers don't have to work for exposure. Doctors don't have to work for exposure. Aerospace engineers don't have to work for exposure. Of course the morons of this planet believe that being an artist is not a real job and therefore shouldn't require payment. As I've said so many times before, artists are trapped in the same monetary pseudo-economy that everybody else is trapped in. Therefore, artists need money to survive.
And then there are those who say you're not a real artist if you make money off your art. I believe they only say this so they can get free labor from artists. But I'm not going to be shamed into working for free because I NEED MONEY IN ORDER TO SURVIVE!! I'd rather be called a fake artist and survive, than be called a real artist and die!
So what am I going to do to make sure basic income happens so I can finally afford to be an artist? I'm not sure. My ability to persuade is next to nonexistent, and so it seems I can't do much of anything to gain support for basic income. Nevertheless, I'm going to try anyway. What else can I do?