Due to the new method of farming traffic on YouTube, namely embodying what people “love to hate” (e.g., incel content, depression, crisis moments) and converting that hate-watching into monetization, the majority of viewers can no longer distinguish between genuine venting and deliberate hate-farming. Even the once-cherished videos or monologues of people “crashing out” are now caught in the monetization game. We have now lost those moments too, an honest rant or a genuine crash, because those of us who are aware will suspect that they’re farming views.
So, even the once infamous "rant" has been absorbed and obliterated by the monetization machine, because it turns out people really like to watch and interact with those who are "letting it all go and saying what they want." The catch is that in order to make this a monetization event, it involves continuous acting like anything else. Normally, people vent for a while and then move on. However, if it is a monetization event, it must be artificially inflated and you cannot "get over it" and move on. This is how you know most of this nonsense out there is fake. Monetization protocols are directly in opposition to the natural life cycle of an artistic process, crash-out, or idea development.
What I realized is that when you cover an idea or get something off your chest via rant or explosion, it naturally comes to an end. There is an honest moment where you have said what you have to say, the energy that accompanies it has passed, and it cannot continue without performance contrivance. What we see now is this:
So, none (the majority) of this out there is genuine communication. As soon as you get money for it, it motivates you to "stay put" and extract more via continued performance. This is why ideas on YouTube are static. The content performer cannot mature or move past it into more nuanced ideas that might depart entirely from their original contentious form. Clearer renditions of understanding might not be dramatic or emotionally charged enough to ensure continued interaction. True catharsis actually brings a transformed state of affairs. It is not possible to monetize the event horizon of a catharsis in perpetuity.
Therefore, those who use platforms for honest expression and art undergo a process that naturally changes their motivations. Actors, actresses, and monetization performers do not undergo this process of development. They are not present to be transformed by art or honest expression, but rather to inflate the most instantly alluring portion of the cycle. For many, it can start out honestly, but the money will always catch up eventually.
At some point, being honest about the fact that the process has changed your initial motivations becomes incompatible with the audience you attracted as the person you once were. Continued acceptance relies on never admitting that you grew past the original “need.” This is the dilemma of public approval. If you allow growth, you might grow right out of the entire framework that shaped your shared identity—and then you are either in big trouble, or free.
Attention = currency. Algorithms amplify signals that produce clicks, comments and shares; shock, outrage, and collapse reliably produce those signals. Reinforcement loops lock creators into identity roles: audience rewards stabilize a persona (the ranter, the victim, the meltdown artist). That reward makes transformation costly. Authentic catharsis is finite: real release ends the drama. Monetization requires drama that never resolves, so performers either fake continuation or lose income. Audience expectations form quickly; the crowd that came for the explosion won’t always follow the post-explosion person who’s quieter, reflective, or healed.
Art and honest speech become performative genres rather than vehicles for growth. Nuance, maturity, and post-insight work get muted. Creators face an identity trap: grow and you lose the crowd (and income), stay performative and you stunt your development. Audiences become cynical and suspicious — even genuine rants are read as crafted content — and trust erodes. The platform ecology favors static, repeatable formats over dynamic human development.