I am gritting my teeth. In seeking to right an oft-repeated wrong I must first claim some liberal arts credentials. Well, I left school at 15 for journalism and that was a good start. Since then I have read Proust, listened more than once to the Grosse Fuge, bought a quintet of Almodovar DVDs and would kill to own a Turner.Does that do it? Now let me turn on the idiots who made this self-aggrandisement necessary.
Most reviewers, notably those doing TV, major on liberal arts. This is obvious when something technical crops up. If the guy driving round the world in a Deux Chevaux describes how he bodged up a broken suspension, that’s boreeng darlings. Tell us more about your fears, your incipent gay-ism and what you feel about all those colourful natives. Feelings count, not track rods.
It gets worse. It’s not just antipathy but a celebration of ignorance. These people, limited to a book-bound world, revel in not knowing what a track rod is. As if knowing would diminish their crystal-pure thoughts on Derrida. Needless to say they were all at sea when “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance” was published.
Am I finished? Yes, that’s it. Track rods resume soonest.
2 comments:
Well said.
I hate that 'how does it feel?' question, it's crass and intrusive and infuriating.
I'm an arts type, but I prefer to use my own imagination on such things and to learn and think about new and different things.
I'm not sure it's particularly that they're arts-biased, though, I think they're just stupid and think the rest of are too, and want to stay that way.
There, I raise you gritted teeth!
I'd guess the feelie stuff is easiest for their audience - it is a lot easier to know how you feel than to have to think about something!
Post a Comment