SeanH,
I posted before I read your apology. First of all, no apologies ever necessary. Truly. If people don't use strong language, I start to worry they don't care and that is far worse in my book!
On the other hand, I hope I haven't offended you in my suggestions regarding your interest, or not, in classical music. It is very difficult to talk about these things without sending like a pompous jerk. This is music I love, obviously, but I certainly don't think the less of anyone who doesn't! My wife and daughter are not big aficionados, for instance, nor are most of my close friends.
The only reason I suggested what I did is that you seemed genuinely puzzled by what you were hearing. And again, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be puzzled: the music is very strange sounding until you understand its language. Ditto me and hip hop!
SeanH,
I agree with you when you say you haven't found anything there in classical music. That is because music is, despite what They say, not a universal language. You need to know what the music is trying to say on its own terms, not on your terms, and that is true whether the music is hip hop, songs from children in the Ituri rainforest, or the string quartets of Shostakovich.
You may find what classical music is all about irrelevant to your experience of what music should be and that's fine, no one cares.
But the reason you "can't find anything there" is not because there is nothing there but because all of us need others to help us understand strange musics. Listening to a lot of, say, gamelan will not make the music more enjoyable if you don't like the sound. But once someone explains it to you....wow! Which brings up another point we agree on.
Concert music comes with terribly unfortunate cultural baggage. Many of the people who proselytize for this music are insufferable. Don't let them make you feel, for an instant, culturally inferior. They, not you, don't know what they're talking about. Just don't blame the music for the fact that a bunch of bozos like it.
Patrick,
I don't disapprove of recreational drug use. I don't approve of it, either. I simply don't care about it. I don't think it's that important one way or the other. Taking salvia sounds as interesting, as appealing, and as profound as watching a 2 hour season opener for Battlestar Galactica. No more, no less.
But it's true, I admit; I find something genuinely funny, as in funny haha, about middle-class white guys claiming deep spiritual insight from their hobby. I like building model rockets and it's thrilling to watch them take off. But I don't get all woo woo about it.
The only problem with recreational drug use, as far as I'm concerned, is when they're abused. But aside from truly evil substances, eg cocaine, it's a lot easier to abuse tobacco or alcohol than it is most other recreational drugs. As usual, Americans find far too much meaning and intensity in their pleassures. It's a puritan thing, I think.
Really and truly, I wasn't angry at Neal. C'mon, now, do you think someone's serious when they call salvia the Walmart of psychedelics? What does that even mean??? But I was poking a little fun at his pretense. I'm not saying get high on life not dope. I'm simply nudging him in the ribs.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 4 |
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