What makes some people think that liking fine art, classical music, opera, ballet, etc. makes them intellectually superior to those who find those things boring? Just because they’re “cultured”, they’re smarter than us. Give me a break.
Yep, you’re right. We’re no smarter than you are. Now go watch Roller Derby.
Uke
Hey, Robo, why don’t you phrase this slightly differently and go post it in Great Debates? It could become interesting.
Here, it’s just going to draw fire. “Opera’s boring!” “No, it isn’t, you stupid fuck!” “I’ve got a doctorate in theoretical microbiology, and I hate Goethe!” “You shallow prick!” And so on.
Uke
Oh, my my my my, I do so appreciate how the fine artistry of professional wrestlers and Jerry Springer’s guests counterpoints the surrealism of the underlying metaphor. More chablis?
– tracer, with his pinkies in the air.
Hmm, a pretentious little wine.
However, it amuses me.
Pour me a drop or two.
This space for rent.
This is why:
Smart = Better Breeding = The finer things in life
A big part of this is the very nature of pleasure. Taking the time and effort to develop a taste for something which grows with time is seen as superior to instant gratification. Anyone can watch network television while fucking their younger sister on the couch listening to country music, but only a few can do it while eating caviar.
Hell is Other People.
Is RollerJam (the current broadcast incarnation of Roller Derby) not in the same league as ballet?? Fie on you, sir!
Well, Robodude, first off, if it has to be EXPLAINED to you…
Art forms such as classical music (and by extension ballet, opera, etc.), painting, novels and theater all contain complex structures and subtleties of form and meaning.
That’s why an understanding of these forms takes time, not because they’re an acquired taste. The failure to appreciate great art could, of course, be born of ignorance rather than stupidity. But being dumb sure helps!
Enjoy the roller derby!
because:
art == creativity
creativity == evolution of the human spirit and mind.
if there is no evolution, there is no progress. no new video cards for you to play your exceedingly high graphically enhanced roller derby game.
if we do not support other people creations we are in fact slowing down evolution of the human spirit and mind. thus you are stupid and we are not 
bj0rn
It isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition, either. I enjoy orchestral music, but not from all eras. I like bebop, but I don’t like big band and I don’t like Dixieland. I’m not a dance fan at all. I like the Surrealists, but not the Expressionists, and I definitely don’t like the Modernists. You can pick and choose, you know? Doesn’t make you a cretin by any means.
"I prefer shows of the genre, “World’s Blankiest Blank.”
To borrow from Ukelele Ike, “you stupid fuck!”
Rich
[distracting pldennison so he doesn’t grind Veg into a whimpering pulp]
So, uh, Phil!
What about bebop big band music, huh? Some wild stuff…twenty guys tearing ass just as fast as a five-man combo.
Ever hear Dizzy Gillespie’s orchestra doing “Things to Come,” circa 1947? Chano Pozo on percussion?
It’ll snap your sticks.
Uke
Liking “fine art, classical music, opera, ballet, etc” does not in itself mean that you are smart.
Being able to discriminate between different examples of the above, and discuss why you like one composer’s concerto over another (for example), does. Or why a certain painting is of a higher quality than another, IYHO.
The same could probably be said of, let us say, heavy metal bands. But exhibiting an appreciation for stuff not belonging to contemporary pop culture (that which spews out of cable TV 24/7), or something that’s been popular in the last 40 years or so, shows that you are at least erudite and are somewhat tuned in to the scope of human experience as a whole.
Anybody who doesn’t like big band music is a subversive communist spy.
This space for rent.
Man, I hate the term “big band” music. It is SO vague.
There is a HELL of a difference between, for example, the 1938 Count Basie Band, that Kansas City blues dynamo with Lester Young and Herschel Evans blowing tenor, Buck Clayton and Sweets Edison on trumpet, and the hottest swingingest rhythm section in the history of music…
…and Glenn Miller.
Uke
A subversive communist spy? Perhaps it was spelled “Big Banned” music in the McCarthy era, then. 
I love opera, ballet, art, classical music, classic literature, etc. and I’m as dumb as a box of rocks.
There goes your theory.
I think this is a largely North American perception. I know that in Moscow you could pick a drunk up of the street and have a conversation about poetry with him.
APpreciation of “fine art” is just not something that we (in general) are tuned in to ( or have shoved down our throats) from an early age (or early schooling) in this country. Therefor we consider people who like these sorts of things snotty, and those who don’t stupid.
Of course, it’s certainly not a valid judgement, since smarts are based on a lot more than just that. In all fairness, though, the value judgement comes from both sides of the table.
(Trying to be offensive as befits the forum)-
There are plenty of WWF fans who take attitude with me just because I have a goddamn degree, even when that factoid is irrelevant to the conversation at hand. So I think morons are a little too ready to be defensive at times.
Ukulele Ike, are you trying to say in your post above that Glenn Miller is crap? I don’t see why people are always trashing G. M. He’s no Charlie Parker, but he’s no Kenny G either.
Granted, his stuff wasn’t very original, but I think it’s pleasant and danceable music. Kind of like Strauss’ waltzes. Not masterpieces, but instantly recognizable and good to practice your Fred Astaire impersonation.
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
Jacques, he obviously isn’t a huge fan of Miller, but all he was saying was that there is a huge spectrum of music classified as “big band.”