Successful (that is, popular) writers are good at manipulating status. Playing low and high status at just the right moments, making us feel good without even knowing why. The greatest pleasure comes when a person's status lowers in a way that we don't have to feel sympathy for him. It's cruel, in a sense. But it comes so natural to us that we don't mind.
Funniest example of a paradoxical status transaction is Paul Graham's essay Why Nerds are Unpopular. Think of the essay itself as a status transaction and reflect this viewpoint to the content of the essay and you'll see what I mean.
Successful (that is, popular) writers are good at manipulating status. Playing low and high status at just the right moments, making us feel good without even knowing why. The greatest pleasure comes when a person's status lowers in a way that we don't have to feel sympathy for him. It's cruel, in a sense. But it comes so natural to us that we don't mind.
