Problem
You've been rattling off these emails and it's time to go to bed. But one last email arrives in your inbox, from yet another acquaintance. She coaches a youth baseball team and is trying to understand a disturbing experience she recently had. She directed her team to employ a highly unusual strategy on offense-the exact details are unimportant-and it was extremely successful. But the parents of her players, the parents of the opposing players, and other spectators in attendance at the games, all vocally objected to the strategy. This despite the fact that (a) it was perfectly legal, if unorthodox; and (b) the strategy was successful!
A sympathetic friend (another one, not you) told your acquaintance that the reason her strategy was being criticized despite being legal and successful was that it was "socially horrible"-a term used by writer Malcolm Gladwell. Your acquaintance does not understand what that means. What is "socially horrible" about a legal, tactically successful strategy? Why would people passionate about baseball (parents of youth baseball players, spectators of youth baseball games) object to a novel strategy in a game they enjoy? Email your acquaintance back, explain what it means that she did something "socially horrible".