A crypto-backed social media platform … intuitively, it’s as close to a “No-Brainer Killer App” as one is ever likely to conceive. For whatever else human beings may or may not be, we are yappers. Poetry, prose or a full-throated primal scream, we love to opine. To tell others what we think about this thing or that. And to be afforded an opportunity to generate income from said verbosity, well, what more could one ask? Build it and they will come.

In theory, theory and reality are the same. In reality, they’re not.

There have been numerous attempts to monetize our musings and most have failed. And rather spectacularly at that. Why? Because in addition to being yappers, a not insignificant number of our brethren are cheaters. Wherever there is a concentration of capital, there will be a concentration of crooks. Vote-buying and selling (bidbots); You-vote-for-me, I’ll-vote-for-you "Circle Jerks" (for those new to crypto social media, yes, that’s what they’re called); multiple account self-upvoting; fake accounts by the millions; spam by the terabyte; and every other manner of miscreant skullduggery one could imagine.

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

With due respect to Obi-Wan, he'd obviously never spent any time in CryptoLand.

Steemit, WhaleShares, Narrative, Hive and Voice.

Oh, the drama and the trauma.

All the mucking about is a shame because the vast majority of people on these crypto social media platforms are wonderful folks. Talented, friendly and hard-working. People sharing an ambition to build something larger than themselves. And, as many have opined, the quality of relationships one develops on said sites is far greater than those typical of Facebook or Twitter.

But, as we all know, it takes but a single bad apple to create a barrel of rot.

Personally, I tire of arguing about the obvious. About why cheating ruins everything for everyone. About why merit and manipulation are mutually exclusive. And about why, in the absence of law, there will be lawlessness. I tire of the sparks never taking flame because someone is always pissing on the tinder. And, I am not alone in my frustration.

With Blurt, we have an opportunity to start anew. To create something extraordinary: The articulation of ideas, ideals and insights that enables content creators to connect with their audiences directly, absent the whims of an army of gatekeepers. Artists, musicians or satirists; culinary creators, political commentators or travel aficionados … it matters naught. For wherever there’s a perfecting of a passion, there’s a legend in the making.

Poetry is not just for poets and a "poem" is a lot more than the rhyming of words. With that, I leave you with a poem that I hope inspires as much in the reading as it did in the writing:

Be Legend In Your Time

If you were dared to do a thing,
A thing the world would see,
A thing the world would know was yours,
That thing, what would it be?

Win or lose, this thing you'd choose,
Of you it will define,
It's how you'll be remembered,
Your fate to it consigned.

Suppose you chose to words compose,
What then would you write,
What would you say and in what way,
Would fire your words ignite?

Would you be the peer of Ol' Shakespeare,
Would you dare to aim that high,
You'd risk the jeers of those who'd sneer,
Despite them ... would you try?

Would you dare to strive for greatness,
Be legend in your time,
Would you dare to be immortal,
Would you dare to be sublime?

Or would you do as all but few,
And do the lesser thing,
Good enough ... but never great,
Make sounds but never sing?

Needs not the world more middling prose,
Nor more of middling men,
What still it needs are those who'd lead,
Who'd risk a Master's Pen.

So go my friend, go risk a poem,
Others, they'll write the prose,
The world enhance, go take a chance,
Go my friend ... compose.

Quill

Paul Savage (Quill) is a poet, satirist and opinion writer. He’s ex-military and has worked in/traveled to 57 countries. He is a political/cultural centrist and an anti-ideologue dumbfounded by a world gone mad. He lives in Sarasota, Florida and is the father of the most beautiful and brilliant daughter on the planet (who is double-majoring in Biochemisty and Neurology at the University of Florida and who's in the process of curing Alzheimer’s Disease). Quill spent 20 years in finance, most of which was spent managing a hedge fund. Quill now owns a boutique advertising agency, QuillFire Creative, that specializes in creating poetic advertisements.