In my mind it makes sense... who doesn't love earning while doing what they enjoy?
The eyeballs on traditional social media sites are intoxicating for a lot of people, so we kind of need to make a cultural shift towards "10 superfans > 10,000 fans" - ie, 10 people upvoting you is far more exciting that 10,000 just seeing your content.
I definitely agree with the idea that people upvoting your content is much more valuable than people just seeing your content, to whatever extent they may see it. That would seem to be a no-brainer, and yet, as you so aptly put it, it does require a cultural shift.