Negative Threads

[Serial_Apologist]

I should add that if I don't like something - anything - I can generally find better things to do than ponder the reasons why I don't like it. That said, if I don't like something I can generally find better things to do than share that fact with other people.

Hmmm - difficult one, that. How much do one's dislikes affect our feelings about life in more general terms is a question I think worth pondering, even if not shared.

Just to expand on what I think I mean: knowing where to distinguish harmless dislikes from harmful prejudices surely comprises in part being in possession of an informed way of thinking about things. I dislike certain manifestations of high Victorian architecture - St Pancras railway station hotel being a particular "bête orange" with me - seeing it as I do as equivalent to campness in representing a certain pretentiousness of display that is concealing of something deeper in the psyche. OK this may be a superficial comparison to make - gay camp was a way of communicating gender within its community and to a wider world of prejudice thought only to be accepting of gays as funny ha-ha rather than funny-peculiar people, and it's my problem if I find its manifestation in certain prominent TV hosts and comedians to be cringeworthy: indeed some might regard as an unsorted problem, though I'd take issue. High Victorian panache on the other hand seems to me to have concealed insecurities regarding Britain's role as the world's biggest empire behind a veneer of architectural bombast. Obviously the parallels are questionable if not farfetched, but I cite them as self-critical attempts to winkle out what may be ingredients in my make-up that are intelligeable at a meta-level.

[richardfinegold]

But did you receive a reply and did you cancel it?

Reminds me somewhat of whichever Marx it was (albeit not Joseph or Karl) that declared that he'd never join any club that would accept him as a member...

It was Groucho, the Marx with the sense of humor. Karl would have only joined a club if it made him the unopposed leader, and then he would have cast out three quarters of the members for ideological impurities

[Quarky]

I should add that if I don't like something - anything - I can generally find better things to do than ponder the reasons why I don't like it. That said, if I don't like something I can generally find better things to do than share that fact with other people.

Agreed wholeheartedly with your second sentence. I think that is a perennial issue with Music messageboards, in that it is much easier to be critical and express reasons for dislike, rather than saying something positive and sensible about music which I do like.

Your first sentence doesn't apply to me. I have the type of mind that focusses on music of current interest, and discards the rest. So it's well worth pondering on why I shy away from composers that I have loved in the past, or perhaps have never loved.

[Pabmusic]

I think I know what he meant - I dislike a lot of Messiaen's Music (basically, I think, I'm repelled by the sound of his chords) but derive a great deal of pleasure from taking it apart to see how it's put together. I admire the craft of his composition, and can see why it appeals to so many people - and the aspects I dislike I regard as irrelevant to the quality of the Music itself: I wouldn't dream of calling it "rubbish".

(Essentially, what I don't like is my "problem", not Messiaen's. There are other composers - whom I won't mention here, for the reasons I suggested in #2 - whose work is the problem, not my response to it! )

Worth reading the thread just to find nuggets like this.

It's rather how I feel about Bruckner.

[Conchis]

I LIKE negative threads. They are much misunderstood.

As someone who has started a few of them, my intention is rarely to 'trash' something. I'm looking for alternative opinions -and arguments to convince me I'm wrong. Also, suggestions for different ways of hearing/looking at something.

Look out for my 'Bach is rubbish' thread at some point in the near future.....:)

[cloughie]

I LIKE negative threads. They are much misunderstood.

As someone who has started a few of them, my intention is rarely to 'trash' something. I'm looking for alternative opinions -and arguments to convince me I'm wrong. Also, suggestions for different ways of hearing/looking at something.

Look out for my 'Bach is rubbish' thread at some point in the near future.....:)

We will Handel it with care!

[LMcD]

I don't think I should say whether I like negative threads as I might then be accused of being negative.
I don't like Marmite, so I don't eat it. If I don't like a particular thread I don't read it.
Oh, and by the way, I'm NOT in denial ....I'm NOT....

[cloughie]

I don't think I should say whether I like negative threads as I might then be accused of being negative.
I don't like Marmite, so I don't eat it. If I don't like a particular thread I don't read it.
Oh, and by the way, I'm NOT in denial ....I'm NOT....

Maybe! But what’s not to like about Marmite?

[LMcD]

Well ...apart from the look, the smell, the shape of the jar, the price, and the taste...there's nothing to dislike, I guess. And some people whose views I otherwise admire swear by the stuff.
Oh - I forgot to mention the texture!

[MrGongGong]

Since when has "liking" something had anything to do with whether it is of value ?

(2000 words, 30 minutes)

[Richard Barrett]

Karl would have only joined a club if it made him the unopposed leader, and then he would have cast out three quarters of the members for ideological impurities

Karl of course was never the "leader", unopposed or not, of any organisation.

[edashtav]

Karl of course was never the "leader", unopposed or not, of any organisation.

I'm surprised that you included "of course" in that sentence, Comrade!

[gurnemanz]

Karl of course was never the "leader", unopposed or not, of any organisation.

Didn't Karl Marx claim he was not a Marxist?

[LMcD]

If the answer's 'yes' then it doesn't really belong on this thread, does it?

[Bryn]

If the answer's 'yes' then it doesn't really belong on this thread, does it?

No, and yes.