Re: Musical tastes and tasteless arguments

[nrc@cbema.att.com (Neal R Caldwell, Ii)]

>From article <9106190910.AA02366@greylady.uoregon.edu>, by stevev@greylady.uoregon.EDU (Steve VanDevender):
> Vickie wrote:
>> She's NOT just another good singer. She's got the
>> same sort of magic and spirit that Kate has (though Kate *IS* God and always
>> will be!) and since Katefans do generally have open ears, minds and hearts,
>> many will feel that magic. It's only right that she be recommended to other
>> Kate Bush fans and it's only right that we be the ones to discover and
>> appreciate her before everyone else catches on.
> 
> Richard Caldwell wrote directly underneath:
>>That's a very clever way to put it.  You assert that the magic _is_ there 
>>and that if we don't feel it it's our own fault.  I'd say that's a matter
>>of opinion and from what I've seen not everyone agrees.
 
> What I can't figure out, Richard, is why you think that Vickie
> doesn't consider it a matter of opinion, that Vickie is not
> allowing others room for disagreement, or that any other
> reasonable reader is not going to consider musical taste and
> music recommendations as matters of opinion no matter how the
> author might word their posts.

In many cases I would agree with you, Steve.  But I think it must be
said that you can't say anything you please as ardently as you like 
and then dodge critisism by saying it was all just a statement of
opinion.  The abbreviation "IMO" is widely used on the net because most
people realize that it is important to note that you understand 
that something is a matter of opinion when dealing with sensitive 
issues.

It should be obvious to any Love-Hound that claiming that another
artist has the same sort of magic and spirit as Kate is precisely such
an issue.

Further, I think we do have a difference of opinion on just how Vickie
intended the above remark.

> Vickie feels that there is magic
> in the music of Happy Rhodes, and says so without adding the
> always implied "but that's just my opinion."  Even if you insist
> that we read the quote literally and then try to pick it apart as
> a failed statement of fact, she hedges sufficiently--"Katefans do
> _generally_ have open ears, minds, and hearts," "_many_ will feel
> that magic."  

This is what tilted me away from accepting this as an innocent
statement of opinion.  Vickie doesn't hedge one bit on her statement
that Happy is NOT just another singer and that she has the same sort
of style and magic as Kate Bush.  "Generally" and "many" don't have 
anything to do with Happy, they are applied to Katefans.  What 
she hedges on is her audience's ability to feel this magic, not it's 
existence.  To me it sounds like she's saying that it IS there but 
not everybody is open enough to perceive it.  

If this was not her intent then I was mistaken and I apologize. 

> Richard also wrote:
>>Interestingly enough, one lurking reviewer dropped me a line 
>>declaring my remark about synths to be "dead on".
> 
> I'd love to see this lurking reviewer post his opinion, because I
> appreciate honest opinions.  However, I consider citing one's
> private supporters a poor way to buttress an argument--at worst,
> an attempt to sway opinions by peer pressure ("all these people
> agree with me, so I must be right"); at best, a way to avoid
> finding any better way to explain oneself.

I hope he will.  But not everyone is comfortable posting netnews.  Not
everyone can even post to the mailing list.  In fact this item arrived 
through another service completely (even though he does have net access).

Say someone here touts Artist X as the greatest thing since Kate Bush (in 
that ever so useful hyperbolemic style).  A friend tells me that Artist X 
sounds like someone abusing a chimpanzee with a garden rake.  Is it not 
fair for me to point out my friend's opinion when explaining why I have
not rushed out and bought the new Artist X release?

Is this suddenly members only with any citation of the opinions of
outsiders to be viewed as subterfuge?  Does it depend on whether 
they tow the line?


"Don't drive too slowly."                 Richard Caldwell
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