Selling Out
What does it really mean to sell out?
By: Lydia Tallarini
“Selling out” is a phrase I’ve often seen thrown around when people talk about careers—if someone says they want to work on Wall Street or for a big tech company, it’s not necessarily seen in a very positive light. Some of that comes from anti-corporate, knee-jerk reactions, but I think it’s hard to distinguish what constitutes “selling out” for each individual. Personally, I define the term as compromising your integrity in exchange for personal gain, but there’s a lot of nuance.
Being a sellout is different from being materialistic or hypocritical in some ways but similar in others. Take Michael Jordan, for instance: in 2011, when the team he owned was negotiating contracts, he refused to give players even half of the team’s profits—which is notable because only a decade earlier, he’d been on the players’ side of the fence. He told the owner of the Washington Wizards, “If you can't make it work economically, you should sell the team.” In my opinion, you can see this in one of two ways. Either MJ is betraying his ideals, or he’s being a bit of a hypocrite and doing what’s best for him in that moment. Either way, not a very cool move.
As shallow as some people seem to be, there are others who manage to stand up for what they believe in. Keanu Reeves, for example, recently had most of his movies taken off of Chinese streaming services because he attended and performed at a concert hosted by Tibet House. The organization is closely affiliated with the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile and advocates for Tibetan autonomy—a touchy subject for China, which does not like being reminded of the problems within its borders. Many other celebrities have been censored by the Chinese government before Reeves (such as Brad Pitt, Selena Gomez, and Lady Gaga), so it’s reasonable to assume that he knew what the consequences would be but chose to stand by his morals.
The two examples above may not seem very relatable to most of us. But the same principles could be applied to risking your professional reputation by being vocal about social issues or working for a company with questionable corporate morals. That standard varies from person to person, though—for some, working for Google, a health insurance company, or big tobacco would be equivalent to selling their soul, but for others it could just be an intellectually stimulating job. Although I personally question the morals of the employees of some companies, there are justifications for almost anything, and what could be convincing to me might not be as convincing to someone else.
In this imperfect world, not everyone’s passions will lead them to financial success—but I think most can find a happy middle ground between selling out and enduring financial hardship. People who major in the arts and humanities, for instance, are often jokingly told that they have poverty in their near future because they’re expected to go into academia, teaching, or the nonprofit sector. But that doesn’t have to be the case: marketing, administration, law, and many other fields are potentially lucrative career options. Does it count as “selling out” to use your English degree in a marketing department? In my opinion, not really. A strong love of the written word can be put to use almost anywhere that people communicate, even if it’s not as romantically sacrificial or virtuous as being a starving artist.
Ultimately, everyone needs to survive somehow. If you’re living on your own without spousal or parental support or trying to support a family yourself, no one should blame you for making money a reasonable priority. Louisa May Alcott, the author of “Little Women,” understood this well. Raised by a father who prioritized his religion and ideals over survival, Alcott wrote both for money and passion. Her publisher suggested writing a book for girls, and so she wrote one, recording it in her diary: “So I plod away, though I don’t enjoy this sort of thing.” To her surprise, it turned out to be incredibly successful and made her financially secure. Perhaps she was a sellout, but Alcott’s books brought joy to many and she was justly compensated for it.
Ultimately, it comes down to personal circumstances and values. I don’t think anyone should be shamed for working towards a high-paying job, just like how no one should be shamed for being poor or holding their values in spite of opposition. Almost everyone has the tendency to judge others, but if you can have enough empathy to understand someone’s thought process, you probably have too much empathy to judge them.