5 Comments
Oct 4Liked by Defender

Admittedly I didn’t click into the Björk thread but I’m actually confused on what each party thought.

When Chris was saying I am going to form my own opinion by experiencing music did they think there was an element of I am going to dislike music for the sake of disliking music?

I think you outline part of the nuance which is that even though art is subjective there’s still patterns and elements that you can comment on and appreciate it. Is the problem that people thought Chris was undermining all of that?

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Chris is saying two things (1) he rejects the "litmus test of artistic taste" because art is subjective (2) the correct way to experience art is to think about what you like & don't like and follow that

The other people are saying (A) the "litmus test" IS useful, it DOES have something objective about it. (B) the correct way to experience art is to think about what you like & don't like, AND expand your horizons/challenge yourself.

So, they're saying *very* similar things. The disagreement happens because Chris THINKS they're saying his claim number (2) is false. And he is defending it. On the other side, they see him rejecting (A), and are trying to convince him of it. But he's not listening, because he's defending claim (2)

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does that make more sense? I'm trying to make this more legible, so I really appreciate you asking this clarifying question!

This pattern happens a lot:

- Person 1 says X

- Person 2 *hears* Y, and argues against it

- Person 1 is confused why anyone would reject X, which is obviously true & good. Concludes that person 2 must be an idiot/malicious

This becomes obvious when you ask them to repeat what they think you said. But people don't like being told what to do by strangers on the internet, so you can just do this yourself for them.

In our story, "X" is, litmus taste for art is a real/useful concept. And "Y" is, you should trust critics' opinions above your own.

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Oct 5Liked by Defender

Yes thank you for clarifying! In the midst of reading this I definitely lost the concept or argument around people saying taste is valid.

It also does make sense that the argument is devolving and that the misunderstanding is the essence of the disagreement.

I say it all the time that you need to agree on the same premise to move forward in a discussion and it sounds like you are saying the same.

I appreciate your posts. The time you took to explain this to me, and your passion for this!

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"you need to agree on the same premise to move forward" 💯🎯

Yes I think this is very important. I used to feel like it was like trying to empty the ocean with a spoon, but I don't see it that way anymore. I think teaching just ONE person this has a huge effect. *especially* because I keep seeing smart people who genuinely care getting frustrated and burnt out because of a lack of communication skill. Trying to collect all these techniques + case studies in an open source book! https://github.com/DefenderOfBasic/in-good-faith-handbook/issues/1

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