the minute we stop thinking like a community and instead fancy ourselves as a company or corporation. then everything makes perfect sense.
Exactly this!
The STEEM blockchain and all the applications built on top of it are not a "company" but an open, permission-less system that anyone can participate it.
WHY they participate is completely up to them to determine. Each individual has to find their own reasoning for value here. That's ultimately not anyone's job other than the individual.
I'm done trying to convince people to get involved in cryptocurrency. I tried that for far too many years with limited results. Instead I'm just going to show them. Steemit is a way to do that.