My opinions

Sometimes I am baffled by how much importance we place in opinion. Specifically in art, where nowadays most of us agree that there exists a special value in each one of our subjective opinions, it seems that people spend too much time arguing over the validity of a certain point of view. While these discussions can be fun to have, any attempt to bestow superiority to one opinion over another as opposed to realizing the difference is one of interpretation is simply misguided. To me, these assertions of opinion portray a lack of confidence in our perception of reality in the face of some presumed objective truth.

These differences in opinion are commonly—and vehemently—articulated regarding music. Check out the YouTube comments for some music videos and you will witness some of the most creative name calling of the 21st century. People defend music they enjoy as if they are the last bastion for all art, and in turn they are retaliated against in a manner so vicious it makes me wonder how someone can have so much hate for a person that they have never even met in real life. Of course, it’s not really a hatred for the person, but rather a hatred for any appreciation of the music. Liking a song is seen an offense to the attacker’s idea of what constitutes quality music, as if someone can win at art.

Sometimes these arguments can come up in critical analyses of music as well. Often people place too much importance on the content of music reviews—usually not by trying to invalidate them, but instead by regarding them too highly. This is most commonly seen in “tastemaker” websites like Pitchfork and The Needle Drop. Some will go to these websites to validate their appraisal of a new album. Some also go to these websites to find new music, which I think is sensible as long as they keep an open mind when listening to the album and try to listen to it unadulterated by the opinions of others. I love going to these websites. Despite some people claiming the opinions expressed in these reviews to be objective truth, I still enjoy reading about and feeling the earnest contemplation, love, and effort the critics have put into understanding the music.

Very quickly a hypocrisy might seem to appear for people who realize that I write an editor’s note every month in which I dump my opinions for sometimes as long as 800 words. Considering the only people who read these are my parents, though, this isn’t a huge issue. Still, in my defense, I expect—and sincerely hope—that no one takes the opinions expressed here to be anything more than the ruminations of some college dude who is required to write a note every once in a while. While sometimes I enjoy writing them, and oftentimes find it therapeutic, I hope no one ever believes they can have an objective value placed on them.

It might be easy to use modern society’s obsession with science and technology as a scapegoat for insistence on attributing objective values to art. It seems logical, given the rapid growths in these fields in the last several decades coupled with these fields’ insistence on hard evidence and an idolization of objective truth. Still, good scientists will agree that their hypotheses are opinions supported by and based in objective data. There will usually be multiple interpretations of a set of data that further experiments can help falsify or support. Knowledge is moved forward when collaboration of opinions leads to an explanation that best suits the data. The difference here is that opinion is meant to convey objective truth, even though it cannot possibly encompass every reason for a natural phenomenon occurring.

Regardless, interpretation of art has a long history of being conveyed and received as objective truth. Even Stravinsky had to deal with critics claiming his work was unfit for consumption, just like Deafheaven had people up in arms over “Sunbather” not falling in line with the trve cvlt black metal canon. If anything, art, and music especially, most likely has fewer snobs, taste fiends, and elitists than it did hundreds of years ago. In society this is reflected in ideas such as moral relativism and other more progressive theories that value inclusion of differing viewpoints rather than a settling on one objective reality.

Still, the narcissism and insecurity that leads to arguments of opinion are very much rampant. People just have trouble accepting that others can interpret a piece of art differently and gain a much different amount of pleasure from it. Students should discuss art, but do so in terms that do not attempt to place superiority over some works. Appreciating differences in opinion fosters individuality and what makes us unique and all that. But more importantly, it also keeps us from looking like jerks.

Gary Hoffman is a Trinity junior and Local Arts Editor.