I saw this comment online the other day,
“People using ad blockers are selfish and don’t deserve to consume great content. Without advertising, we can expect the quality of content to go down or sites disappear entirely because the creators need to get paid. Don’t you want to support sites like this?”
It’s funny how sometimes people make a statement like that without considering the fact that they are being selfish for not wanting to pay the creators to ensure the well-being of the website. Kind of like saying we shouldn’t use TiVo to skip the commercials during our favorite TV series. Doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Truth be told, I don’t think there is anything wrong with being selfish. When we give up something, we expect to receive something of more value in return. No exceptions. We exchange our knowledge/effort at for money; we spend time at the gym to stay in shape; we spend money to buy fancy clothes; all because we feel that at the time of the exchange, the latter items are worth more to us. Isn’t that the precise definition of selfish?
People are always selfish; let’s not argue about that. Great things happen, though, when people are selfish for the right reasons — they are the ones who make all the difference in the world.
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