An interesting piece by Rachel Aroesti arguing that the prevalence of algorithm-driven drivel might necessitate the resurgence of cultural snobbery, allowing people to suggest that what you like is shit, actually (and as such a rejection of the hideous “don’t yuck my yum” mantra I discussed a few weeks back):
These days, “let people enjoy things” is the prevailing attitude towards all cultural consumption... With any negativity now considered psychic violence (sometimes countered by threats of actual violence from fans), enthusiasm took over as the default mode. Ironically, considering the Gallaghers’ track record of insulting their peers, it’s a mindset that has benefited the Oasis reunion no end: don’t call them derivative, dull or lyrically inane like people did in the 1990s; just focus on the rare and precious sight of British people having fun.
PS: Looks as if Aroesti’s a lone voice though (or at best a lonely one, as I think she might have a point). Ho hum. The best lack all conviction... Although in the midst of all that, I think someone called me a Leavisite.
PPS: Also plucked from the carnage, Brian Klaas suggests that we shouldn’t slag off Dan Brown because that might discourage people from reading anything whatsoever. But even Klaas acknowledges that “Brown’s prose is clunky, his characters so thin that they occasionally resemble crepes with speech bubbles.” So might we be permitted to hold such opinions in places where the fans won’t see them? If I point and laugh at Oasis fans in a forest while all the Oasis fans are in a stadium 50 miles away...
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