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Saw this, and thought of writers:
What do you guys think?
Bwahaha! I love it!
J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove
ROFL! 😆
Happy writing,
Deb Salisbury
The Mantua-Maker, Quality Historical Sewing Patterns and Books
www.mantua-maker.comThe Art of the Hoop: 1860 - 1869, Dress, Sewing, and Clothing Care Advice
https://www.mantua-maker.com/a---1860s-fashion.htmlDead Wizard's Loot: Wizard Whitewing #1
http://www.djsalisburybooks.com/Dead-Wizard-s-Loot.htmlThe problem is that almost anyone can call themselves an artist. When I was in hospital having my brain drained, there was a “patient” in the other bed in the room, possiby from Japan who was trying to gain entry to Canada as an artist using some obscure (I’d never seen or heard of it. :unsure: ) ethinic art form. He was apparently totallly incompetent at the skill whatever it was.
Of course, there are loads of ‘con’ artists, surgeons and legals among them, who wheedle themselves into jobs they are not qualified for. (for which the are not qualified.)
Now those cartoons are very funny, but we all know they are not realistic. The need is to define art and the artist, and I think that’s been tried, but not successfully.
Oh! Sorry! Was this supposed to be a fun post?
Oh! Ha! Ha!
By the way, I’ve seen similar cartoons before, but this has a 2013 stamp on it and it’s a copy. (at least of the idea.) Do artists get paid for copies?
What I found most interesting was all the hate in the comments section, as if the artist was stealing their money by suggesting that artists are poorly paid. I found the cartoon funny and the comments strange.
–June
I stopped reading the comments, because I was getting too annoyed at the clueless commenters.
The cartoon itself was great. It made me smile, but with the realisation there is real truth behind it. Yes, there are incompetent artists and writers. At least, when we’re incompetent, the harm we can do is limited to wasted cash. And I don’t care what profession you point to, I’m sure there are examples of utter incompetents who made it through the degree or certification process.
No, I’m not saying every artist or writer deserves to be a millionaire, but I do think the cartoon makes a real point, and does it in a funny way. The kindest thing I can think of to say about many of those commenters (at least the ones I read before I couldn’t take it any more) is that they must be pirates who are annoyed because it makes it more difficult for them to justify their theft.
Yes, it’s funny only because it has a layer of truth.
However, the real truth is that other professions aren’t paid by the end user as much as paid by a company that then sells the product to the end user. this is why people are reluctant to pay for content online, but willing to pay for something filtered through an agency.
She remakes mechanical devices, and he dreams of becoming a steamship captain in The Steamship Chronicles. Book 1 is free in eBook.
https://margaretmcgaffeyfisk.com/the-steamship-chronicles/People are talking about “the” cartoon. But if you go down to the bottom of the comments there’s a next that take you to the next page of cartoons.
MarFisk wrote:Yes, it’s funny only because it has a layer of truth.However, the real truth is that other professions aren’t paid by the end user as much as paid by a company that then sells the product to the end user. this is why people are reluctant to pay for content online, but willing to pay for something filtered through an agency.
You have a point. But that’s the same model traditional publishing follows – and traditional publishers don’t offer nearly the level of pay other companies do. Look at recording artists – they may often complain they get cheated, and they probably do, but more of them make a lot more money than writers do.
I do understand why traditional publishing works the way it does. Not all publishing companies are cheats – although I’d hardly say there are no cheats among “publishers” (Publish America, cough, cough) – which leaves no other conclusion than to say as a culture, we don’t value the written word very highly. (That, and the volume of readers is much lower than the volume of music buyers.) To go back to the original cartoon, art isn’t valued that highly, either.
And yes, we could do something else. In that much, the commenters are right. But after hearing, just as one example, a lawyer complain he wasn’t paid enough because he could “only” afford a Mercedes, and hearing repeated public complaints by just about any union that their members are underpaid (and in many cases, they may well be – that isn’t my point – although I confess to a lack of sympathy for the lawyer), I really don’t see why anyone would find such a cartoon objectionable. That in itself is revealing in terms of society’s attitude. We aren’t even allowed to object we aren’t paid enough without attracting hostility? Especially the most over the top comments do a great deal to underscore the very point the cartoonist is making.
I simply find the societal demands interesting. People would agree that a doctor should become a doctor because he or she feels a calling the heal people. Yet, those same people don’t object to the doctor making a living wage at that calling. Artists, on the other hand, are somehow supposed to do their craft purely for love? This isn’t the only place where society’s expectations just seem a bit odd, but it certainly is one.
I don’t think these same people object to artists making money, they simply object to the statement that artists are paid in weird and stupid ways. Perhaps, in one way, it breaks an illusion that these people have — that somehow talent is always rewarded with money, so if you aren’t making money it’s because you are untalented. I don’t know. I just found the overwhelming amount of outrage in the comments to what was basically ‘hey, artists are paid is stupid ways that other professions wouldn’t tolerate’ interesting.
–June
Part of that comes from the word “writing” I suspect. The other professions have “lesser” words for people who aren’t that good, but writers are just that (some quibble over the word author, but it’s diluted enough at this point to mean writer).
For example, compare:
First Aid = what normal people do.
CPR = what trained helpers do
Nursing = what a trained nurse does (though some dilution has occurred here mainly, IMHO, because it’s associated with women’s work).
Doctoring = what doctors do after years of medical school
Surgery = what surgeons do after years of medical school.
Other specialties = things that are so complicated most people can’t even pronounce the name of the specialties much less do it
…and which require medical school plus.To:
Writer/author = Something everyone is taught to do in grammar school
Best Selling author = Someone good enough to make the lists
Award winning author = Someone good enough to be recognized by a committee of experts
Pulitzer Prize winning author = Recognized by “the” committee.There are no clear certifications, degrees, etc. that tell the public you are qualified, and the ones that do exist (MFA for example) get no respect even within the writing community.
The phrase, I write, tells people nothing because it could end with letters, checks, schoolwork, or any number of things that have nothing to do with books.
Add that to the subjective nature of reading (one person’s favorite is another’s trash) and it’s even more complicated.
Should skilled writers be better compensated? Depends on the reports you believe because there’s a lot of good authors, especially in these weird publishing times, who are making a living wage. Ultimately, it’s not about the money. It’s about the respect, which both exists and doesn’t.
Think of a dinner party:
What do you do?
Well, I’m a writer.
Garners two responses…
Oh, I have this great book idea. Will you write it and split the profits?
or
What have you published.
A doctor might be asked their specialty, but the assumption is that they’re practicing their craft and therefore should be respected. The assumption with a writer is that if you’re not published in a magazine they know or a bookstore they go to, you write crap.
She remakes mechanical devices, and he dreams of becoming a steamship captain in The Steamship Chronicles. Book 1 is free in eBook.
https://margaretmcgaffeyfisk.com/the-steamship-chronicles/To me, an author is a creator. You can teach just about everyone to write in some fashion, you can’t teach creation, althogh that might make for a good story.
Quote:Well, I’m a writer…………What have you published
You don’t have too be published to be either a writer or an author. To question someone who claims to be a writer, is legitimate, though. I’m sure there are excellent authors who never get published. The ability to sell oneself I suspect comes into it a lot.
You do need to be able to heal to be a medical doctor.
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