Bad Taste
One has to get rid
of the bad taste
of wanting
to be in agreement with many.
‘Good’ is no longer good
when your neighbor takes it
into his mouth.
and how could there exist
a ‘common good!’
The expression is a self-contradiction:
what can be common has ever little value.
in the end it must be
as it is
and has always been:
Great things are for the great,
abysses for the profound,
shudders and delicacies for the refined,
and, in sum,
all rare things for the rare.
Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, Sect. 42 trans. by R. G. Collingwood
Several days ago I had a brief email exchange with a friend, the Professor who introduced me to philosophy and specifically to the views of Nietzsche. Many years have passed since my college days. Time does not erase everything though. I remember reading a selection from BG&E. In my case it was as if a bell was struck, and the note still echos.
Much of life, for each of us comes down to taste. Is it not “bad taste” to expect that you ought to approve/like what I happen to find agreeable? Why do the ideas of Nietzsche, and his method of philosophizing in ironic bite-sized segments resonate with me? I do have some ideas about the “why” of the appeal, but nothing that I am certain of. It comes down to taste. Your taste and my taste necessarily are personal, individual, different.
Difference is not opposition. Sometimes opposition is necessarily the stark truth of it. A taste for bullying, for imperious control must be the opposite of shared, peer to peer joint responsibility.
But your taste for Dunkin Donut’s coffee is an interesting counterpoint to my preference for Starbucks. What do those preferences indicate about each of us? Where do our preferences for coffee fall in the ranking of values for each of us? You and I are not the same, a productive difference.
Now that would be a worthwhile conversation, we’d learn from our differences, as well as enjoy the time spent…
Shall we enjoy a tune? This one by Nathaniel Rateliff, Love Don’t will make you smile.
2 thoughts on “Bad Taste”
A Personal Observation in a Public Forum
What is taste if not opinion? We general use the term with regard to cultural affectations such as dress, food, music, or design, yet those are just my opinions about what I view as relevant. So it makes sense that my “taste” in politics, philosophy, religion, sexual orientation, etc., are basically the same as the first group I mentioned. Now, as for acquiescing to someone else’s taste for the sake of decorum is beyond silly, for the most part. The only time it would be best to nod in agreement with an opinion offered by another is when you have the completely opposite POV and when that other person clearly has no interest in broadening their perspective. At that point, decorum is the best path.
As for you and I, there are been many times when we have not seen eye to eye on a subject, and yet that difference never devolves into an argument. Most of the time, when you take issue with a statement I’ve made, I come to see your point and will more often than not adjust my own point of view, not because I want to “be nice” but because your argument makes sense. That is what conversation is supposed to be, an exchange of ideas to come to a better understanding of whatever the subject matter might be. But it takes people who are not wedded to a singular ideology to be able to have that dialogue. Imagine if the world were like that. Where people could sit down and formulate solutions to problems based on rational, non-emotional interaction. Where everybody wins because it is the best possible path. [deep sigh!] Oh well, it does not seem that humans have that capacity in general and so we all pay the price.
Our current social arrangement, even the physical design and layout of neighborhoods, cities, promotes and expresses individualism, the crazy thought that I can be complete, a full functioning organism in isolation from others. It is inevitable that many differences will be extant between each of us, and that is precisely what is to be shared so that each will have an expanded sense of self, a wider appreciation of our home, and how fortunate we are to show up. We are here for others Einstein is reported to have said. The quote may not be exact. That is the core principle – a repudiation of the capitalist maxim that we are here to maximize profit. We must rotate the social axis of humanity over the next several generations.