Originally Posted by
kokonutz
Originally Posted by
AtomicLush
And yet, people are vehemently opposed to his blog for some reason. Do you know which blog I hate? Pioneer Woman. That lady has made millions off of sprucing up Betty Crocker mixes and taking photos of the steps. But do I find forums about her and write about how horrible of a life she has, just spending all that time in the kitchen and not really creating anything worthy of five-star restaurants? No. Why not? Because I really don't care all that much. I don't read her blogs or watch her shows. But in the end, I just don't care enough about her or her blog... But yet, how does OMaaT draw so many frequent fliers to hate him? To have that kind of animosity - there's more to just not liking his blog.
You mean...something like this:
http://www.thepioneerwomansux.com/ @:-)
Or this:
http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/to...oman-rich-now/
Points and miles and premium cabin and chain hotel bloggers provide a service to frequent flyers. FlyerTalk predates them all as a place to talk about service providers in the frequent flyer space; the good, the bad and the ugly.
<shrug>
You can pretty much find a forum criticizing any public figure on the internet. It's a big Internet.
I'd also add that this particular blogger draws exceptional criticism because of his efforts to draw attention to himself beyond the blog itself, and because of the degree he has created a persona that rubs some of us the wrong way.
It's perfectly valid to say "just ignore him and his blog." That's what I do with TPG at this point. But to suggest that criticism of OMAAT is somehow unique reflects a failure to grasp how current culture and society operate.
You also neglect to recognize that criticism can have good outcomes. Although I think his response was hogwash, you'll note that Ben addressed his status as ambassador of the gays to the Maldives right after several days' discussion of his romantic trip to that nation of gay bashing on this very thread. I critique Ben because I want him to get "better" (understanding other people may disagree), and also because I personally find his lifestyle depressing. Since I don't want to be attacked/misquoted again, I will make very clear I am not saying this to have another debate about the substance of criticism, but to address what appears to be the new topic: speculating as to ulterior motives of people who dare criticize a prolific blogger based on the content of his blog.