Originally Posted by
bkrownd
Of course the labels are important to the manufacturers - they're how their marketing departments mislead the unwashed masses into purchasing new overpriced and often inappropriate "lifestyle" bikes of some sort. The vague labels themselves have no definition other than whatever the marketroids and fashionistas want to pump at any given time.
Incorrect. The vague labels only maintain the definitions the marketroids give them if those definitions are accepted by the masses. Of course, they usually are accepted by the masses, but there is at least a theoretical possibility that the masses, or possibly even a small but dedicated subset of the masses, can resist and impose their own labels and definitions, thus forcing the marketroids to play by new rules.
Consider what happened with liberals and conservatives over the last few decades. Conservatives came up with terms to define issues the way they wanted them to be perceived (for example, "death tax"). Liberals mostly rolled their eyes and said, "Call it what you want, here's what's wrong with getting rid of the 'death tax.'" The general public said, "Uhh...umm...death tax sounds like a bad thing. I think I'm against it." And the conservatives got what they wanted. Eventually the liberals started figuring this out, stopped rolling their eyes, started playing the game and stopped losing with such consistency.
Refer to
my citation in post 8 as necessary.
