Why do you feel Steemit should be an unpaid writer's hub? There are plenty of places already for that. The major selling feature of Steem/Steemit is getting paid to use a social network.
Thriving social networks include all calibers of content producers and consumers but the vast, vast majority of user generated content is shit. We just need better tools sift through the shit and personalize it to our tastes so we can wallow in our own shit.
Check out Tumblr, that's where we are most likely headed on the content quality front but it's not a bad thing. More and more crappy content will be the price of success.