Usability is a valid term for a long estalished practice of soliciting feedback from users.
If done properly, usability is vox populi, not vox Nielsen. I might have more sympathy for some of James insights if they were so caustic, but I'm stuggling to find any acknowledgement that designers involved in usability are motivated by a sincere desire to help people. Not everyone is obsessed with championing a personal ideological agenda, though those who are may have trouble realizing that.