Well, a creator of value should at one's core aim not at attention but at sending the right messages out there. It's about creating sparks. About burning down the old world. About asking the forbidden questions. About throwing stones at the Universe. You need resources to make art, not the other way around.
Well, some are good at making it a self-sustaining cycle. Good times...
I completely agree with your sentiment, but a problem that often arises is that one's (unique) message echoes into an endless, empty void... or it seems that way, at least. I think we all only have so much interest, and energy, to getting our message(s) "out there", before we either give up or settle for the status quo. Some people just have enough of those two qualities (interest and energy) to push through before they're out of them.