Some extemperaneous meditations on snobbery:
I try not to be a snob, but occasionally I do venture close
to being one. I was never a fan of rap music, or as its now
called "hip hop", but my disinterest in it never went quite
so far as snobbery. I thought of the people who enjoyed it as
predominantly undereducated, perhaps primarily urban and
definitely youthful, and my conclusions on all this were at
most that that being undereducated was bad, in a vague way it
was perhaps because it made you want to listen to rap! Now
that is scary because it is almost a vicious circle, and
those are always dangerous. But then I recently watched the
movie "8 Mile" and I learned a lot about Hip Hop. Nothing has
dramaticly changed in my view since, I still think of the
people who really love hip hop as being undereducated at best
and naive or dim at worst. But being exposed to a true
talent, namely Eminem in that movie "8 Mile" has made me
think more than ever that being a snob is a mistake.
Perhaps snobbery is a twin of moral disgust? If it is its not
an identical twin, unlike moral disgust , snobbery is usually
tempered or diluted by an indifference to the "suffering" or
the "wallowing" of those being judged. Snobs feel no strong
need to show those they judge as lesser the error of their
ways. They are often content to be blissfully ignorant of the
subject to which the are being snobs.
I think Frederich Nietzsche came up with an interesting
psychological explanation for such self justifified "lording
it over" when he layed out the pattern of master and slave
morality. Nietzsche argued that there are two types of
morality, master morality and slave morality.
Master morality is an attitude where "good" and "bad" are
equivalent to "noble" and "pathetic" respectively. The master
creates value by simply stating: THIS IS WHAT IS GOOD BECAUSE
I SAY IT IS.
Slave morality is somewhat different however, it cannot exist
wihtout master morality. It takes whatever situation the
slave (or modernly the victim) is saddled with and turns that
into a virtue. For Nietzsche, who was specifically interested
in explaining the origins of Christian morality, those slave
virtues are the opposite virutes of their Roman master's
virtues. The virtues are sympathy, kindness, and humility.
Essentially embodied in the line "the meek shall inherit the
earth". But if any of you have seen the movie "8 Mile" you'd
see a terrific exposition on how being a victim can be turned
into a virute. To come from a broken home, to be poorly
educated, live in a trailer park slum and to be involontarily
jobless is turned from being a neagtive into being a right of
passage... a "look at what I can endure" badge of the hip hop
scene.
Now think of antisemitism. Antisemites do not always believe
that Jews are trying to control the world
(become the Masters), but they do in nearly every case
strongly resent the idea that Jews are "the chosen people".
Now what does the phrase "the chosen people" mean? Its not a
claim about the rest of the world. Not in the way for example
Hitler argued that the Aryans were "the master race" (in a
way meaning that Aryans would be "the MASTERS of to rest of
the world"), instead "the chosen people" is an affirmative
claim about Jews for Jews; meaning "You Jews are chosen by
your God". But seeing as resentment is THE key to unlocking
all forms of hatred the phrase takes on a menacing meaning.
Escpecially when subsequently non-jews have come to worship
the same God.
So how do I tie all of the above together? I first think that
the lesson to be learned is that if you haven't really done
your homework you should shut up. The wise man is always
advised to be aware of how little he knows. I've seen the tv
show FAMILY MATTERS, and read HARRY POTTER, personally I find
both extremely boring. But after seeing "8 Mile" I've come to
understand how some of the unseen dynamics, essentially the
virtues of the hip hop world, can combine to make soemthing
heretofore unintelligble, not only intelligble but also
possibly interesting. Harry Potter is not a great novel. But
if 11 years old and you have issues about power, school and
like an adventure story then it is going to be readable and
enjoyable to you. I still don't understand why anyone would
watch Family Matters (it ran for an astounding 9 years!!!!),
about this last one I think I'm going to have to remain a
snob, and I'm not even sure I'd want to be cured of it!
Jesse
--- Bludis Jack <
buildsnburns@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Kevin Burton Smith responds to Mark.
>
> Mark asks:
>
> >Could it be that those making these claims
feel
> insecure about enjoying
> >genre fiction and feel a need to elevate
any
> they do enjoy to give it
> >legitimacy?
>
> Kevin responds:
>
> Yes, and those who in turn automatically sneer
at
> academics are just as full of it. Snobbery
cuts
> both ways.
> ----------
>
> It's about time that someone point out that
out.
>
> (I went through a period of reverse
snobbery
> myself.)
>
> Welllll . . . maybe I haven't lost it
> completely--but I'm trying.
>
> Jack Bludis
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