Monday, November 14, 2016

Triple M Review: Misleading Title leads to an interesting article that is not as dire or tragic as it sounds - Matthew George

Enter Mr. Money Mustache, a writer whose blogs range from how to retire early all the way to tips to cut out the fat that is excess spending. In this specific blog post: "Reader Case Study: Young Man Saved from Jeep-Suicide" Triple M analyses a post sent by a reader of his blog looking for advice, Triple M details the exchange between him and his reader "Justin" in addition to sharing with the world his advice for this person's life circumstances.

Triple M begins his blog post with a modified version of the letter sent to him and his analysis of Justin's life choices-with an emphasis on focusing on the positives of Justin's life. Only a single line into his response and already we can see that Triple M has a significant grasp on how to critique people. By utilizing this method Triple M delivers positive reinforcement to Justin as a reader and the choices he has made through the advice previously given by Triple M. Given the toxicity of the internet and how interaction to critique can often be cold and lifeless it is compelling to see and individual who still understands how to motivate someone efficiently.

Following his positive reinforcement Triple M proceeds to step by step detail and describe the actions his reader should take while providing insight to his readers who may also fall into a similar circumstance. The attention to detail here is to be noted as Triple M explains his reasoning for each and every choice. Detail to choices made and explaining them is important, an example is if someone says "Jump off this bridge, it's only 2 feet above the water and there is a fire consuming the bridge" instead of "Jump off this bridge". The added detail changes so much about whats being talked about. Speaking about death-metaphors now would perhaps be an accurate time to talk about the title: "Young Man Saved from Jeep-Suicide", no an individual did not attempt to commit suicide, rather a more accurate title would be "Young Man gets rid of a Jeep that is inefficient and not worthwhile", yet the simple act of calling it Jeep-Suicide sounds more interesting and is more likely to get clicks, click-baiting, if you will.

going back to the topic before that, Analyzing Justin's living condition, location, transportation of choice, and job, Triple M focuses on the primary issue of Justin's woes: in inefficient vehicle and how to correct the issue. From how he goes about analyzing and responding it is clear that he understands as a writer how to critique others. By focusing of the positives and what small tweaks need to be made, instead of focusing solely on the negatives, Triple M avoids the hassle of instigating aggression in his reader, keeping the dialogue very peaceful and respectable.

Arguably the best written segment in this post comes after the analysis-where Mr. Money Mustache acts as a makeshift financial adviser. All throughout this second half the reason of why people listen-and trust-this person is made clear: he knows what he's talking about.

As I see it there are two segments that weren't written as greatly as they could of been. The first is the title itself-despite being unique I feel more people are going to assume the term Jeep-Suicide is more associated with trying to kill yourself while in a jeep (driving off a cliff, going full speed into a pole, etc.) Rather than harming your finances by owning a jeep. The misleading title devalues-in my opinion-the rest of the piece as click bait, despite the fact that the article itself is very well written and enjoyable to read. The second is that despite looking into housing, I can't help but feel he's missing one very crucial aspect of housebuying/renting: Knowing what the house itself looks like and where it's located. It's entirely possible he also did research on this aspect as well but if he did he unfortunately left it out of his piece. After all a cheaper house may not be the best option if it's in the bad part of town, putting him in greater risk.

Overall I am amazed by Triple M's talent as a writer, how he formed his response to his reader and the level of advice he gave out and can safely say that so long as he is here to stay there will be a crowd of people happy to read what he puts out.

3 comments:

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  2. Loved your comment, "Given the toxicity of the internet and how interaction to critique can often be cold and lifeless it is compelling to see and individual who still understands how to motivate someone efficiently." I 100% agree with you on this, and I too admire Mr. Money and his ability to gently but assertively get his point across to his readers.

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  3. I like how you have a very constructed criticism of the articles flaws, it helped me to not only see what could have been improved and how.

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