This article is trying way, way too hard with its prose, and not hard enough with its content. A lot of it is "argument by adjective" with phrases like "small,

This article is trying way, way too hard with its prose, and not hard enough with its content. A lot of it is "argument by adjective" with phrases like "small, sad, thwarted" having the responsibility for making the case that the author is trying to make. You could replace all the adjectives with positive ones and change nothing else, and it would make an equally good case for the opposite position.