>"I do not think these points are as mind-shattering to the average geek as the author seems to believe. Marketing is not intrisically scummy and scammy? You don't say! Marketing need not be deceptive? What a concept!"
So all you really have is a different set of stereotypes about geeks than the author has. Who's right?
I'm starting to think the question "what is a geek" is the ultimate elephant of our time - no two geeks anywhere are feeling the same body part. (No jokes, please.) We all mistake our own local, small sample sets for the totality, and anyone who tries to make a general assertion just gets picked apart by a million people who have exceptions to bring up.
It's distressing to me, because we need powerful marketing conversations, and conversations that are all about exceptions aren't very powerful.
>I'm starting to think the question "what is a geek" is the ultimate elephant of our time
The very definition of geek tends to include words like "non-conformist" and "totally focused on some tiny tiny niche that no one else knows anything about"
That's the crux of the problem, yeah. We're like Tolstoy's line about families: normal people are are all just normal, but geeks are all weird in ways different enough to prevent us from having any kind of collective self-definition. Which leaves the job of defining who we are to others, who inevitably get it wrong.
It really isn't a relevant question. Anyone who self-identifies as a geek has skin in the game when it comes to my article because it's so much more about (self-limiting) self-image than my conception of what a geek
is.
So all you really have is a different set of stereotypes about geeks than the author has. Who's right?
I'm starting to think the question "what is a geek" is the ultimate elephant of our time - no two geeks anywhere are feeling the same body part. (No jokes, please.) We all mistake our own local, small sample sets for the totality, and anyone who tries to make a general assertion just gets picked apart by a million people who have exceptions to bring up.
It's distressing to me, because we need powerful marketing conversations, and conversations that are all about exceptions aren't very powerful.