A lot of people of late have taken to calling me a curmudgeon.
I don't like this.
I feel it is today's au courant language.
A politically-correct way of calling someone old and grumpy.
I am not old.
I am not grumpy.
I have run a dozen marathons and can out think and out write and out present nearly anyone out there.
I get frustrated which leads me to vent my spleen at stupidity.
At asking consumers to engage with brands in ways that are more complicated than building in balsa wood a scale model of the "Little Indian Girl" genuine replica cedar canoe complete with reinforcing ribs.
Or in making things that no one will ever see that might win an award but does nothing outside of Madison Avenue's bubble.
I get frustrated when people treat this business as if we make toys not drive sales.
I get frustrated at grand proclamations that are 100% puffery and 0% accountability.
I get frustrated by people who phone it in when something doesn't interest them.
I get frustrated by a lot of things.
Healthy outrage is healthy.
It doesn't mean I hate my life, or my boss, or my agency, or my client, or the industry.
It just means I want to make it and them better.
You say old and grumpy like it's a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteGeorge, I think the people who call you curmudgeonly define themselves as supporters of what you're criuticising.
ReplyDeleteIn which case why do you care what they think?
They're the people you think are shmucks anyway.
Given that two minuses make a plus,
getting a thumbs down from a schmuck is the equivalent of a thumbs up from a thinking person, surely.
I completely understand your rage. I've experience frustration on a daily basis. I think its the nature of a creative business. Certainly the films I worked on after UCLA were often replete with drama, temper tantrums and pettiness. Sometimes you appear to raging against youth and fuming that everyone you work with is an idiot. Many no doubt are. What attracts me to your blog is your intelligence and wit. The curmudgeon thing is a reaction some will have if the reference point is the way it was vs the way it it is.
ReplyDeleteDarryl
I never saw being a curmudgeon as a bad thing. Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes comes to mind. But I have learned thru experience that many positive people don't like to hear complaints, so I keep mine to a minimum. I just go home and kick my dog.
ReplyDeleteI usually agree with Dave Trott (respect) but I think you're dead wrong here. I agree that one shouldn't take to heart what others think, but to dismiss them as schmucks because they disagree is equally wrong. Everyone is a schmuck then, including you.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 10.16
ReplyDeleteRead George's post again.
People weren't debating the points he was making (as you are with me) they were calling him names.
What you did was reasonable and we can have a discussion about it (as we are).
What they did was to make it personal, they behaved like shmucks IMHO.
You can't have a discussion with people who reduce the topic to personal insults.
Dave Trott: Calling names is always best ignored. Its a blog, people cloak themselves. Cowardly. This thread is probably moot by now but if not, here's my take. George 's blog isn't timid, tam, or lacking a strong pov. That's why we read it. I think the curmudgeon mentions arise when he goes on a passionate rant against technology. social media, 30 year olds in Brooklyn. I get his point and it doesn't bother me but it's not without some grounding. The irony of course is that he's a classic ad guy working in a digital agency. I think his true calling is teaching. Solve the problem at the root.
ReplyDeleteGot to give you credit, George. This is the first time I have seen anyone shoehorn in a reference to a Rushton canoe in a blog
ReplyDelete