Seth Godin asks in his latest post:

A newspaper asked me the following, which practically set my hair on fire:

What inherent traits would make it easier for someone to becoming a linchpin? Surely not everyone can be a linchpin?

Why not? How dare anyone say that some people aren’t somehow qualified to bring emotional labor to their work, somehow aren’t genetically or culturally endowed with the seeds or instincts or desires to invent new techniques or ideas, or aren’t chosen to connect with other human beings in a way that changes them for the better?

I’ve heard this so many times that it almost sounds true. But then I watch Ratatouille again. If I’m in a hurry, I’ll just skip ahead right to Anton Ego’s final review:

In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

I think Ego — or rather the writer who put the words in his mouth — is closer to the truth than Seth. No, everyone can not be whatever it is they want to be.

Not because they aren’t “qualified to bring emotional labor to their work”, but because emotion isn’t enough. If it were, Rudy wouldn’t have been the subject of a movie.

He had more passion for the game than any five of his teammates, but as Fortune tells him:

You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability.

All the passion in the world didn’t overcome some limitations that he just couldn’t fix. Never could. Sure, his coach eventually rewarded him by putting him into a game. But only when the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Until recently, stories like Rudy’s were for the most part private affairs. But now the auditions for American Idol show a parade of contestants with all the passion in the world, and no more talent than Rudy had. And they simply refuse to listen to the advice of people who also have passion, plus talent and a record of successfully identifying new talent.

Part of Seth’s definition of a linchpin is that they’re indispensable. That can only be true if the “emotional work” that you do is work that other people value. It still depends on what other people want.

So if what you have passion for is something that you just aren’t capable of doing well, or that other people don’t value, then what you have is a hobby.

Woodpulp, printing presses, typesetting machines, delivery trucks, those stands on the street and the newsstand… I think we’re okay without them.

But are we?

The presses and trucks — the machinery of creating and delivering the paper — are transparent to most people. But the newsstand is a user interface. Any UI designer will tell you that the interface influences the type of interaction you have with the underlying system. What type of interaction do you have with a newsstand?

Newsstand in web terms

First, the newsstand serves as a “portal” to divergent news sources. It provides a rough snapshot of what the different publishers think is worth reading about today, all in one place. No matter what your interest, you can go to the newsstand and know that it’s represented there.

Then there are the cases where someone discovers an interest while at the newsstand. The user who knows what she is there for, but sees the same screaming headline in 144 pt type on three different papers and decides she wants to see what’s happened in the world. Or the user who wants to read something, but doesn’t know what until he browses. This second type of user is very common in airports.

The newsstand also serves as a feed reader, always showing the most recent issue of periodicals and dailies, with older issues sometimes available behind the counter. Just as there are people who don’t know or care about RSS readers, there are people who have been reading magazines for years who don’t track when the new issues will be out. They just check the stand every day or so until they see something new they want to read.

Don’t make me think

Both of these functions, the portal and feed reader analogues, are zero maintenance for the users. At most they might ask the proprietor to start carrying a new title. But the mechanics of delivery, storage, display, are all handled for them. With no subscription, no ongoing cost, and the incremental cost entirely under the user’s control.

So Seth is right, we probably won’t miss the newspapers. But will we miss the newsstands?