I've never met Reed but have seen him (and his entourage) numerous times when I'm out chasing. I've seen videos of his chase partners/friends saying he's self centered/arrogant, but I have no firsthand knowledge. I don't understand some of the hate he gets for making money by chasing. From what I see, he got a degree in Meteorology, because he loves weather & storms, and he's using his knowledge to chase and make $. Even if all he does is chase, and never helps with "the science", he has a very large social media following that is now getting a heads up on storms in their area. Who says he has to publish papers or info? Why is it bad that he's doing something he loves and making $ too?
I only get to chase for 2 weeks per year, and I've done it all for myself, never helping with "the science". I take my pics/video/time-lapses and have them for my own enjoyment. Only a handful of people have ever seen anything I've captured. I rarely even post any of it on my social media accounts (a few pics over the years). Does that make me a bad person? If I could make a living traveling the country and chasing weather, I'd probably jump at the chance. I'm betting most people on this site would as well.
I certainly would not jump at the chance to chase for money. Ruins the experience and you can only make a living doing it if you are willing to be an entertainer. Gone are the days you can live off footage.
It seems like you are making assumptions about why people might be fatigued with certain personalities, bust as far as I can tell no one here is 'hating', and certainly not becaue anyone makes money chasing (are you implying people are jealous of the circus?!). Rather than project ideas, why not ask people why they feel the way they do?
In my experience, no one really cares about people having passion and being successful; this is not upsetting to anyone and is in fact admired by most. No one is calling anyone a bad person either, but it is still ok to call out actions and attitudes that have negative consequences. A healthy society is objective and introspective of its memebers, and cannot succeed if just lead by emotional judgements.
What most resentment comes down to as far as I can tell is: I think many people are just tired of the ever larger chaser circus of bad behavior and unsafe ignorant actions, and the continued draw of more naive and dangerous personalities to the hobby of chasing. Many more people each year are attracted to the 'look at me' segment of the community just as with everything these days (hardly limited to chasing). There are too many fools who want to 'zero meter bro' that have made the experience of watching supercells turn from blissful time with nature to a real nightmare and safety issue for other chasers and even worse for the general public who arguably has more right to any locale than we do. Many chasers just want to be able to enjoy our hobby without a circus, the immaturity, the added danger, and the lack of class and intellect brought by barbarian hordes who are a direct result of personalities, social media, mass media, etc. promoting the hobby as something it isn't.
For the record, the people doing real science in this field are pretty humble about it and you are unlikely to spot their vehicle unless part of a sponsored project requiring identification. The most useful science called for is almost never throwing things or vehicles into tornadoes. This tells us almost nothing we do not already know. Source? I have had conversations with real scientsts on what is actually useful, and not one asked to throw vehicles or probes into tornadoes.
