"In fact, I’d say that as a critic I’m the real deal and Geoff isn’t in that I challenge my readers whereas Geoff throws them bouquets."
Sounds like an argument between being proscriptive and description, which is somewhat at the heart of the rockist/poptomist tension. Geoff wants to talk about Underwood, because people are listening to her already. You want to talk about Miranda, because you think people should be listening to her. But the truth is that neither of you are being totally honest. Because Geoff isn't throwing them 'bouquets' to make them comfortable. He's throwing them 'bouquets' because he thinks that it's more interesting to anthropologize and discuss what people are interested in. And you aren't discussing Miranda to challenge people, but because you find her artistically interesting. If you thought she'd challenge people, but you didn't find her interesting yourself, you'd discard her. Just like if Carrie sounded VERY popular but wasn't actually popular, Geoff wouldn't bother with her.
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"In fact, I’d say that as a critic I’m the real deal and Geoff isn’t in that I challenge my readers whereas Geoff throws them bouquets."
Sounds like an argument between being proscriptive and description, which is somewhat at the heart of the rockist/poptomist tension. Geoff wants to talk about Underwood, because people are listening to her already. You want to talk about Miranda, because you think people should be listening to her. But the truth is that neither of you are being totally honest. Because Geoff isn't throwing them 'bouquets' to make them comfortable. He's throwing them 'bouquets' because he thinks that it's more interesting to anthropologize and discuss what people are interested in. And you aren't discussing Miranda to challenge people, but because you find her artistically interesting. If you thought she'd challenge people, but you didn't find her interesting yourself, you'd discard her. Just like if Carrie sounded VERY popular but wasn't actually popular, Geoff wouldn't bother with her.