RE: Appealing to mediocre people
You make a good point. I as well read a bunch of articles approaching mediocre topics from time to time, just to see if someone came up with a new idea that may interest me.
My problem is with those who intentionally approach mediocre topics out of a desire to try to convince people that the way they see things is the right way and everyone else is wrong, or those who just seek views, so they approach mediocre topics full of drama because that's what will help them achieve their goal.
I especially see that on Medium, where people seem to love to write articles about why humanity is great and technology is horrible, about why fat is better than skinny, why women are great and men are the worst, or the opposite, why women are awful and men are incredible.
I find it annoying that those are almost the only types of articles you can find on the front page, and you have to dig a lot in order to find someone that discusses something else, something interesting, in an article where they try to share their opinion, not explain to others why they're right.
It's not even that those people don't exist, they are there, trying, but, as usual, drama and topics full of hate or contradiction always get all the attention when other people may deserve it.
As an example, a men hating article made by a woman who believes that 100% of unwanted pregnancies are cause by men, because women, in her opinion, aren't to blame for irresponsible behavior, has around 24.000 claps/likes on Medium.
Here's the article: https://medium.com/s/can-we-talk/men-cause-100-of-unwanted-pregnancies-eb0e8288a7e5
It was also shared on Twitter and promoted by their Medium profile.
However, another article made by a guy named Jeremie Harris who talks about quantum mechanics and why we may live in a parallel universe, only has around 6300 claps/likes, despite the article being interesting, really easy to read and it offers a really simple introduction to what quantum mechanics are.
Here's the article: https://medium.com/s/can-we-talk/men-cause-100-of-unwanted-pregnancies-eb0e8288a7e5
It kinda pisses me off that Medium would promote the first article that received a lot of bad criticism from a bunch of people who weren't direct supporters of that author or the men hating feminism movement, yet they ignore the article of a guy who can make someone with no prior knowledge about quantum mechanics understand the basic way of thinking in that field.
Maybe that's just me, but I wish I would find more articles like that on the front page of Medium, instead of useless drama that leads to nothing.
Medium does it because it's the type of content that get them traffic. I would liken it to Wattpad where there are more story genres worth exploring and promoting than romance but romance is what sells. They go where the money is. It's a bit low for writers to do this but it's what keeps food on the table. I don't like it but I understand it.
People weren't built for rational thinking most of the time. That's how extreme the gap between intellectuals and the average thinkers. While I know it sounds harsh or discriminating to create this divide but it does exist. I know average thinkers would not want to be lump with the mentally deficit end of the spectrum if you know what I mean.
It's the way things are and most likely will be.
I find it sad that more and more websites/companies are doing the same thing, turning their great products into money makers, driving decent people away, and ending up with a product that only mediocre/toxic people use, who only care about drama.
It's even worse when writers who are capable of doing more than mediocre work just do what the masses ask, because that's what sells.
I don't want companies to focus only on "intellectually superior" people, and to ignore masses, but it would be nice to also promote content creators that do something different, than to ignore them and just focus on what brings money.
Balance should be a thing. Sadly, it doesn't seem to exist for them.
As you, I don't like it, and while I understand it, it still pisses me off.