An online celebrity recently held a tenth-anniversary gala, and a crowd of other influencers showed up as guests. The comment section, predictably, filled up with sarcasm: “Pillars of the nation,” “Protect these influencers, they create value for society,” “Our future depends on them now,” and so on.
I did not watch the whole video carefully, but I did recognize a few faces the camera swept past — Li Hu, Dawan, Xiaomiyan. I know them because their skits are genuinely funny, and when their videos appear in my feed, I usually stop for a while. That said, out of personal habit, I have not followed any of them.
In this era, every field is crowded. Standing out anywhere is difficult, and becoming a recognizable internet personality is far from easy. Some estimates suggest that if an “influencer” is defined as someone with a million followers, brand deals on an annual basis, and enough public recognition to be noticed on the street, the odds of reaching that level are roughly between 0.01% and 0.05%. At that point, the difficulty is not so different from getting into one of the country’s top universities.
That alone should make one thing clear: people who become successful online creators usually have real abilities. They may have a talent worth showing, the stamina to keep producing content, or a sharp sense for business opportunities. Often they need all of these at once. None of that is easily matched by people whose main skill is sitting behind a keyboard and spitting insults.
Of course, influencers are not farmers growing grain, scientists making technological breakthroughs, or soldiers defending the country. But those were never their roles in the first place. They create, perform, and entertain. They give viewers a few moments of ease and laughter while scrolling through videos. They bring traffic and business opportunities to platforms. In their own way, that is also a contribution to a more relaxed and functioning society. Even if some of them now earn impressive incomes, that success did not fall from the sky; they worked their way into it.
At first, I did not quite understand where all that resentment came from. If you do not like watching them, just scroll past, block them, and move on. They have not done anything immoral or illegal. If someone holds a gala for their own anniversary, how exactly does that hurt you?
But thinking about it now, the sourness in those comments is hard to miss. Beneath the mockery sits a thick layer of envy and resentment. It is almost like seeing Ah Q muttering bitterly from the sidelines: only a fool would draw the circle so perfectly.