[throwaway444]

As far as I can tell your response is off topic.

I never said it didn't produce results, I said that it had cultural effects.

>If this paternalistic attitude didn't work, Y Combinator wouldn't be doing it.

Your argument seems essentially "it exists, therefore it's fine." Minimal competence also produces results. That doesn't mean the flaws of an approach are mitigated or nonexistent.

My overall point has nothing whatsoever to do with results. What I'm saying is something about ugliness and ugly people and how our culture treats them despite the fact that we are all ugly people.

Unfortunately for Paul and Jessica, they are in public view quite often; in this article we get a glimpse of their ugliness. But they also consistently accept the rewards given them because of this exposure. Good/bad for them, depending on your viewpoint of that tradeoff.

I dwell on them because the disparity between how our culture punishes and rewards 'professionalism' and lack thereof.

This is about the lie of professionalism. Perhaps you're saying professionalism doesn't matter if, even during its absence, results can still be had? I don't see how that counters anything I've said.