i am not genuinely mad at people for doing it, but god, it is so eviscerating to have someone say "oh man i love your content"
it's like walking up to a cow and going "dude i just want you to know? the burgers i'm gonna make out of you are going to be so delicious. my mouth is watering already. i cannot wait to exploit you. i see you purely as a resource"
i will never stop reiterating this: "content" was a word created by people who think like this
what is the purpose of the text on a website? to increase visitor count! to "convert" "leads"! to generate organic traffic! imagine being so brainwormed that you think the purpose of baking cookies is to make people interested in the cookie jar. "content" is a word created by the people who invented SEO and ruined google.
"content" is a block on a wireframe (derogatory) that's tucked in between "navigation", "banner ad", and "targeted ad," and just to the left of "column ad (animated)." applying that term to someone's creative output is unspeakably demeaning. applying it to your own is horrifying.
“Content” is soulless. “Content” is dehumanizing. It elicits thoughts of click-baity titles, bright, emoji-ridden thumbnails, scrolling endlessly through a sea of CHEATING ON GIRLFRIEND WITH EX (PRANK) or I CALLED THE JOKER AT 3AM, begging brain-off unchallenged viewers to like, subscribe, and hit the bell.
This is not to say that I don’t watch fun or unchallenging media, it’s nice to let your brain take a break. But what I make is not content. What my friends make is not content. We make art, writing, music, and a myriad of other media and it’s beautiful.
I remember fondly when I started up my Patreon about 5+ years ago. “Be a content-creator” the site boasted. I was enamored with the lure of living off of my art and being supported for the things I make. However, the insidious worm that is “content” dug its teeth in deep. Over time, I started to view my art less as art and more like a product I need to shill, something that I needed to keep polished and pretty, something that could equate an attention grabbing emoji ridden thumbnail. The thing with my art is my style is not consistent. I switch around different brushes, I draw a bunch of different things, and my style shifts consistently. But because I was infected by The Content, I started to hate that about my work. I was trying to work against myself to keep my art consistent, try to engage in ways that made Number Go Up, and placed my self-worth on the back of what I made and whether or not it did numbers. This was devastating to me over time, detrimental to my creative process, and ultimately I was overthinking the one hobby that brings me so much joy and relief. I am not made for insincerity. It’s difficult for me to present something to people and tell them that it’s bigger and better than what it is. I’m a terrible salesman! But, I know how to make things that make people feel things, I know I can write things that can elicit nuanced emotions or inspire introspection on topics that are near and dear to my heart, I can draw really raunchy, hot smut that pushes buttons for me and others, but I cannot shill that out and label it as “content”.
The things that I see and read from friends and other artists in my social circles are brimming with sincerity and that can be felt and I think that’s beautiful. But never again will I approach someone who shows me what they do and deem it “content”, cause be it art, music, writing, videos, or whatever, if there’s the least bit of yourself put into it, its so much more than just “content”.
but yeah same difference, and good point 
