I’ll slide past dealing in depth with the assumption that contestants are forming impressions about James from a place of secret insecurity rather than sympathizing with the personal reported experiences of friends like most human beings do, and instead address the weird diss on those who have Alex in their profile pictures, which has a more simple explanation than what you’re insinuating here:Austin Powers wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2019 10:49 am Falco comes off poorly. You lost; stop with the sense that you were good enough that you were supposed to win a couple of games. Move on with your life.
It’s interesting how little the country cares about JH’s personality flaws, yet a small group of fans - almost all former contestants - can’t see anything other than those issues.
They’ll claim this is justified, due to violations of etiquette by JH years ago. But that stuff happened years ago and, really, who cares? No one seems to have been materially hurt and the folks mostly talking about it are the offended. The two most insulted are recognized as great trivia players and the reason those allegations never took root is that no one at the time believed them.
Maybe nothing seems terrible these days due to all the terrible news, but I am not surprised that no one gives a rat’s ass that JH was mean to Ms. Falco in the green room.
There’s an interesting underlying tension. Those that bash JH act like they want to be on the show “just for fun,” and that his approach seems mercenary. That’s the gist of Falco’s complaining that JH was able to organize his life around prep.
But at the same time, this micro-community can’t stop talking about how they were on the show. Half of these folks have Alex in their Facebook profile photos.
Appearing on the show is clearly an ego boost for these folks. I’d further speculate that it serves in their minds as a validation of their intelligence. Especially a kind of intelligence that is likable and considered attractive enough to be palatable for TV. I can’t help but think that Ms. Falco very much dreamed that she was going to be able to tell others she was a Jeopardy Champion, that she met Alex and that Maggie LIKED her.
JH wrecks all that. He’s way, way more talented than just about everyone, ever. I don’t see how that can be disputed at this point. That has to sting some even if folks act like it doesn’t. And he does it without frankly being that TV friendly. No stories about he was offered a dowry of camels for his hand in marriage while visiting Egypt, for example.
And his mercenary approach really cuts through the idea that the show is supposed to be a daily parade of thoughtful bookstore owners, schoolteachers, etc, who reflect America as it Should Be. Turns out it is just a game show, and being a game some play to win.
It’s reflective of nothing more than that, and that’s not a problem. Folks are allowed to dislike JH, but it would nice if they admitted the zeal behind their feelings reflects larger issues of their own self-importance and how it relates to the show. I think it’s unfair to JH to act like he takes the show way too seriously when there are more than a few people out there who have their self-image wrapped up in appearing on Jeopardy, too.
Consider that Jeopardy!, much like a wedding, was the last time many of us had professional photos taken, w/professional makeup done. In many cases, it’s between that or an awkward cut-out from a group photo.