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0 pointsahoyhere14y ago0 comments

This explanation doesn't really get to the heart of it.

Fast Company has always been breathless and brainless. They always present "business" in such a way to make it seem like all you need to be a rich, successful, famous, sexy entrepreneur is "a great idea" and maybe some fun personality traits.

They aren't in the business of reporting, they're in the business of titillating, teasing, and making their reader think "that could be me!" - exactly, in other words, the stuff I've dubbed entreporn:

http://cubic-m.blogspot.com/2011/09/entreporn-dictionary-def...

"I've got a pizza here with extra sausage." "Ohhhh, we lost our purses, however can we pay?" -- I DELIVER PIZZAS… IT COULD BE ME!

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2 comments · 1 top-level

DilipJ14y ago· 1 in thread

that's true, but that's also why I love Fast Company. If you want harder-hitting business journalism, it's better to stick with Fortune or Businessweek. There you can read about the underbelly of business,the Madoffs/Goldmans/oligarchs etc.

Fast Company and Inc. are both owned by the same firm, and they try to portray a more humanistic view of business, ie. social capitalism, the belief that entrepreneurs can one day solve all of the ills in the world. Its a very uplifting philosophy, and I for one find it encouraging.

I've never heard of the term entreporn though, if you coined it then congrats! I like the term, and maybe it is apt. Maybe that's precisely what someone is curious but hesitant about entrepreneurialism needs.

ahoyhereOP14y ago

Which is fine! I'm not ANTI-Fast Company. I'm also not anti-porn. Assuming it doesn't hurt anyone, people have a right to enjoy whatever they care to enjoy. Some people even enjoy TechCrunch.

People just need to understand what they're reading, and why they shouldn't place their trust in its realism. What I see here on HN all the time is a refusal to question the motives or background of the speaker/writer/what-have-you. It's considered ad hominem, a fallacy. But it's not. It's just good thinking.