How Dare You Succeed!

This sort of comment has been coming up a lot in the discussions around asking people not to use adblock on sites they frequent or on content they enjoy (and should therefore be supporting). What gets me about it is that these people are essentially either fully self-employed, or are supplementing their existing income (which, last I looked, wasn't a crime), and here they're being told to stop that and begin searching for a completely different job they may or may not find given the unemployment rates and general state of the job market. Why do you want more people lining up in front of you in the welfare office? Shouldn't you focus on getting yourself that career you've been wanting?

The closest thing to a good point this remark has going for it is that whatever career path you end up taking in the entertainment industry (be it a Hollywood producer or a humble webcomic artist), there is absolutely no job security. That's part of the reason why big name actors ask for such huge salaries and even percentages of a movie's gross; any film could be their last. Case in point: Pierce Brosnan is not my favorite actor. I don't hate him or most of his work, but he's not exactly a draw for me. When he retired from his role as James Bond, it was so hard for him to avoid typecasting that, in the end, the only way he broke that pattern and got to stretch his legs a little performance-wise was to co-finance his own film. That was The Matador, wherein he portrays a contract killer going through a complete mental breakdown. It may have some flaws as a film in terms of structure, but there's no faulting the performances. That said, Brosnan was one of the lucky ones. Most actors don't ever get that second chance, let alone are able to make that chance happen for themselves.

That's why A Dose of Buckley has a downloadable album of exclusive material. That's why Linkara sells T-Shirts and has begun selling a DVD as well as taking contributions directly. That's why Emi of Jaltoid takes commissions. That's why James Rolfe produced specials for ScrewAttack and SpikeTV. That's why Mark Brussler of Classic Game Room produces documentaries. That's why nearly every webcomic artist has a store offering various merchandise.

Still, the question remains: Why does enjoying your job make it unreal?

I mean, they say if you love your job, you never work a day in your life. Maybe the people who make that remark about getting "real" jobs take that expression literally. It's terrifying to think what kind of messed up upbringing they had to make them think the only real jobs are the ones you hate.

I tried to make this an animated gif, but it looked terrible. I'm going to post this to Tumblr as a pair of frames, since the format allows for that.