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Comment by stdbrouw | Hacker News Reader

There's some good points in the piece, but I can't help but think it's funny how everyone used to love TED... until "everyone" became a really big group and overnight TED became uncool and passé and insight porn. There's a fair bit of posturing and snobbishness going on here, too.

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Not everyone loved TED. I've seen people pointing out that they're essentially selling the wealthy a way to feel good about themselves and spinning it as something world-changing for years.

I'm pretty sure I was talking about how much I liked TED last month on HN. Now, suddenly, I'm re-evaluating whether or not I actually enjoyed those talks or if I just thought I enjoyed them.

There are many ways of seeing a thing.

Contrarians are seldom wrong because in essence, lots of shit kind of sucks.

It is easy to find the ways in which a thing sucks, specifically after a good deal of exposure.

That's seldom all there is to it though.

Often there are very good and enjoyable aspects to things that also happen to suck in other ways.

So I figure you did enjoy those talks and your also seeing a side to them that could be considered as sucking in some aspects.

As someone who has never liked TED (take my word for it, for a moment) I think there is an "emperor has no clothes" moment going on. As a critical bystander, it is my impression that the talks have been getting worse, and (as a result of TEDx) the brand has been getting more dilute. As it becomes more and more plain to see, people begin to realize.

(I mention my continuing personal dislike because it means I have been a third-party observer of the TED phenomenon for many years now- my vantage point has been distant and generally not changed)

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