Those who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
Artemus Ward*
I came across this at the start of Aaron Dignan‘s Brave New Work**
It’s a fantastic line. It was written as a faux-disparaging remark that was exactly intended to show the sort of humour you could expect from the Ward/Browne.
What I love about it is that it’s true of almost everything, including (and perhaps especially) the kind of highbrow entertainment that Ward’s fictional reviewer would have thought was worth their attention: opera, ballet, public lectures… If you like that kind of thing, you’ll find it the sort of thing you like.
And if you don’t like this sort of thing that doesn’t mean it’s bad (though of course it might be bad) – it means it’s not for you.*** And that’s fine. It’s not for you, and your opinion isn’t really relevant – what matters is the opinion of the people who it’s for.
This is a liberating way of thinking about anything you make, anything you’re trying to build or sell… even about yourself.
*Variously attibuted to Ward (pen name of Charles Farrar Browne), Abraham Lincoln and others. Ward is the best bet – more here.
**A really interesting read – recommended – more to follow.
***Seth Godin has written a lot on this – see this post, this episode of Akimbo, Tribes and This is Marketing