As usual, Scott Adams is more than a cartoonist with this dead-on observation.
Over the past 15 years I have received amongst my bit-piles of appreciative fan e-mail approximately one per week saying in effect, “You used to be funny. But something has gone horribly wrong.” This e-mail, written by a different person each time, is long, and passionate, and often detailed in its argument. These helpful critics make it clear that their tough love is intended to snap me out of whatever steaming hole of mediocrity I have shoved my head so that I can get back to my past ways of excellence.
100% of these e-mails are from males who seem – based on their well-written letters – above average in intelligence. That’s 780 nearly identical messages from men, and zero of this type from women. I call it the Helpful Critical Guy Syndrome, HCGS for short.
