Greetings!
I’ve found the article in question insightful, and being mostly in the
casual camp, I agree about most of the points – hardcore elitism, the
“it’s popular so it sucks now” attitude, complaints about vanishing
obstacles being viewed as a “rite of passage“, and so on.
My only complaint about this article is the part, I quote:
> A smart businessman approaches consumers (and non-consumers) not unlike a smart man approaches women. He does not listen to what they say. If he does what they ‘say’ they want, he will find his success stagnate or shrink. Rather, he will watch what they do and let that be the basis of for the action.
As a woman, I’m offended by this statement. Not only does it tries to
portray “picking up women” as a measure of a man’s “success” (read:
proof of “manliness”, or rather penis extension), it also takes the
most quaint and stereotypical approach to gender relations imaginable.
And it stereotypes both men *and* women.
If possible, could this passage be removed, or replaced with a
different analogy? Thanks in advance.
When I was writing it, I was keeping my audience in mind which were young men.
Since you are a woman, let me write it like this:
A smart businesswoman approaches consumers (and non-consumers) not unlike a smart woman gets a man. She does not listen to what they say. If she does what they ‘say’ they want, she will find her success stagnate or shrink. Rather, she will watch what men do and let that be the basis of for the action.
The idea is to look at behavior rather than what people say they want. After all the years “Washing the Hardcore Away” has been on the Internet, this is the first complaint of this type towards it. So you appear to be an anomaly.
I don’t do what women tell me to do in real life (which is why they love me) let alone on the Internet. The passage stays. (Also it is because I am too lazy to edit it and have made it a rule for myself to never edit the articles once they are up. My blemishes are for all to see.)