There is indeed some interesting stuff there. I'm a bit confused, though, at how a seemingly-intelligent person like the writer appears to be can really believe that what a person does at Arisia is accurately representative of what they do the other 361 days of the year. Does he think we wear those costumes to work, too?

He acknowledges that it's all fine in moderation but then jumps to the conclusion that Arisia attendees use "escapism" as a lifestyle. I'm sure that's true for some people, but it's certainly not the case for the most of the ones I know.