Why we don't like it when people are real (negative reaction to the TechCrunch Woz video)

[9:45 - SEE MY FOLLOW-UP POST ON UNREALITY.]

I happened to see this tweet from @TechboyUK:

Woz on Apple. Rubbish interviewer, but respect to Wozniak http://su.pr/94VE51

The link goes to a StumbleUpon entry. The StumbleUpon entry is for a CNET post. The CNET post includes video from a TechCrunch post. And once you dig all the way to the original source, you can read the following note, which was apparently added to the original post:

Editor’s Note: The woman who is asking most of these questions was one of the many members of the public who gathered outside the Apple store. Wozniak was happy to talk to anyone who had a question or comment.

I suspect that @TechboyUK's negative reaction to the woman was due to the fact that she didn't behave as a professional interviewer would. [9:55 - PLEASE SEE THE COMMENT FROM @TECHBOYUK, A/K/A PAUL RICHARDSON, IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. HOWEVER, MY STATEMENT STILL HOLDS TRUE FOR THE TECHCRUNCH COMMENTERS.] A professional interviewer would have a carefully prepared list of questions, or at a minimum would try to structure the interview to get the maximum information from the interviewee. But this woman? She was just chatting with Woz.



And I suspect that Woz kind of liked it that way.

Years ago, I saw a comic that purported to show what Charles Schulz's Peanuts characters REALLY sounded like. When you read Schulz's comic, the characters - especially Linus - are saying things that no kid would ever say. The version of the comic that I saw was much more realistic. The kids were speaking in short sentences, and Snoopy was chasing Woodstock.

In the TechCrunch film, the woman asking the questions is being criticized (see the TechCrunch comments) because she acted like a normal person. I find it highly ironic - and disturbing - that when we all insist on being real and social, this woman is being condemned for acting like a normal person.