What a sad essay with a simple answer to its title: “Not everything need be monetized”. This essay could be easily transposed into other domains, for example “

What a sad essay with a simple answer to its title: “Not everything need be monetized”. This essay could be easily transposed into other domains, for example “why are some good musicians not trying to get record contracts?” From the essay: > Many of our values are locally-set by our environment and peers The mentality that $$ reflects social value is a social sickness that to some degree of course has existed in all societies, but it has become particularly pernicious in the USA over the past 40+ years. I was shocked that my tween/teen stepkids knew the financial arrangements of their favorite professional athletes and which of their friends’ parents were on the Forbes Midas list (which I hadn’t even heard of). Culture has become professionalized to the point where I never see kids wearing homemade Halloween costumes — they are all branded. Apparently “doing something because you want to” is no longer considered a mainstream attitude.