Wow.....you went through my post line by line. The kind of insecurity that requires is both shocking and amusing to me. Though I've seen you do it numerous times and I enjoy your tantramatic attempts to make purely objective arguments personal because you're apparently so concerned about your reputation on this forum that you believe if you can't win an argument based on fact you'll just cry all over the forum. I like it. You entertain me constantly with your trolling.
A critique of me using lol, when you produce such gramatical gems as , 'you know, like' is also tremendously entertaining. You want a conversational post, but you want to critique mine. Get a life you tosser. Lol. (There it is again, go call the grammar police jackoff.) Oh wait, now I'm being personal too....maybe it's just me having a slice of hypocrite pie....I hear it's going around these days. It's OK though right....because subjectively I think its OK if I do it, so I can still judge you for it right? I mean surely I don't have to be moral to obtain the moral high horse right? SURELY?
Fame doesn't equate to talent, but it does equate to the effectiveness of your performance for whatever reason. Be it mass appeal (however misguided) or mass awareness (however obtained.) As a result, they don't have to justify themselves to you. Don't get me wrong, the argument 6 million smokers can't be wrong is applicable there, however, you can't argue that cigarettes don't have appeal, nor can you argue that they aren't effectively sold, which is lets face it the goal of any magician. If you can't be an artist in magic, be a performer, plain and simple.
And if getting good reactions from spectators and using that to judge a trick is a low standard in magic then I wish you luck in your no doubt modern art esque approach to magic, where as long as you can cream out a milky one over the complexities and intricacies of a trick that no lay person will even give a **** about provided the effect is good. But of course you're in it for the high standards, rather than entertainment.
I can only guess that I hit a nerve with your lamentable lack of recognition for your magic. You're probably one of those people that feels you -deserve- it because you are much more technical and amazing. Well so do a bunch of terrible authors and musicians and a bunch of other people with so abrasive a personality that it doesn't matter what you do.
The point is this discussion is pointless in and unto itself. The Bucks do magic that has a good impact and entertains the audience when done correctly. Personally, not being a full time professional, that's all I look to achieve when I perform. If enjoying what I do, and entertaining people means my standards are low in your opinion then all I can really say is, go **** yourself punk. Lol. (Oh and there it is again), your standards don't interest me and neither does your opinion on the Bucks magic.
Whicha.