My father hitch-hiked across Australia in his 20s and taught me the rules. Often you accept charity, provide a like for like swap / exchange for goods, services. Sure, in today’s modern society its harder to find people that need wood chopped or their car cleaned, so you have to get creative to earn money. I traveled for 8 years, taking on odd jobs, teaching English for local schools, or bar-tending.
In that respect, I don’t see what these ‘begpackers’ are doing as completely idiotic, the ones selling photos of their travels, are not likely to be selling to locals, but instead other tourists, and they’re probably only getting money from other tourists, at least the ethical ones would be.
I think its a strange new world we live in, the reasons to travel have changed, the abilities to travel have changed. Gone are the days where only British aristocrats traveled the world, only the upper class could afford a ticket. The nomadic hitch-hiker is now a world wide situation, from and for all countries.