If Pascal had needed to write about hot girls in yoga pants, I'm pretty sure he would have written something like this afterwards.
I know that a lot of guides for beginning writers explicitly recommend dumbing down your writing to an inane level--or at least, I've encountered many that do. I imagine, though, that it isn't so much that people with literary styles dumb them down, so much as people with Dan Brownish styles succeed more.
Wow, what a compliment comparing me to Pascal <3
I've been writing for a long time, and only in journalism courses was I told to "dumb it down," and that is including two solid years of grad work in an MFA Writing program. That being said, when it comes to making money, the masses do have to be considered. And it is not to say that I am trying to hold myself above them because I am more literate, only that if I want to reach people, which I do, I have to bring things to a level that more can understand, more meaning those who have not studied literature and writing extensively. That yoga booty article though, haha, man, that takes the cake on my dumbed down writing.