tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post4427613791091763430..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Neo-StoicismBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-8170069648061656692017-03-24T08:45:35.699-05:002017-03-24T08:45:35.699-05:00There is a certain phenomenon, I'm not sure wh...There is a certain phenomenon, I'm not sure what to call it, where a certain idea, or style or meme gets amplified in the mass media to the point where it seems ubiquitous. Some examples of this would include the reigning styles of pop music and fashion, celebrities known for being famous, certain political and economic theories and so on. In music, it is the popular styles that seem ubiquitous. Nearly every restaurant, mall and other public space has pop music playing. But in reality, more people than you would think like classical music and a lot of people who have had little exposure to it, also find they like it when they do get a chance to hear it.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-54940363287138232792017-03-23T17:49:07.158-05:002017-03-23T17:49:07.158-05:00Marc, thanks for reminding me of Rod Dreher, I fol...Marc, thanks for reminding me of Rod Dreher, I followed him for awhile on the American Conservative website but fell away as I drifted out of politics and deeper into music and health/fitness interests. Can't read everything all the time. But about Mr. Dreher and the culture wars of which he wrote, despite my youthful decades as a leftist and enthusiast for proletarian politics, I came to despise much of the left for their permanent victim mentality and for the identity politics that defined me as a white male (I thought I was just a human being) and assuming I'm a racist sexist xenophobe when actually I'm just a person who respects all people and don't feel the need to continuously testify and protest to prove it. I pretty much agreed with him that the cultural left have made outdated liberation movements into a permanent war of identities that is blind to all the good in tradition and that ends up crystalizing the divisions they proclaim to be against.Will Wilkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01997868915978439364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-6007847642740197302017-03-23T15:50:02.982-05:002017-03-23T15:50:02.982-05:00A "beat" means musical jail-bars to me.A "beat" means musical jail-bars to me.Will Wilkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01997868915978439364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-9496908406840239282017-03-23T15:04:29.747-05:002017-03-23T15:04:29.747-05:00Personally, I have chosen to absent myself from mu...Personally, I have chosen to absent myself from much of what goes on in the wider society in terms of its music and social attitudes &c-- for reasons of temperament and belief &c &c, and so am sympathetic to the people VDH was writing about. On the other hand, of course (as the anecdote at the end of his essay implies), there are times when I ought to replace my 'retreating from' with 'advocacy for', for what I know is better (in this particular case, better music) and because I know that the poor tattooed fellow deserves better than the dreck he submits himself to. And isolating oneself in the guarded valley does also have the consequence that in the arena of politics one abandons the fight to those who <i>do</i> choose to act therein. <br /><br />In the air, yes; in conservative and Catholic/Orthodox circles there is debate about the so-called 'Benedict option', a notion popularised ('popular' being a relative sort of notion, ha) by Rod Dreher, who used to blog but is now at... the American Conservative (I think). Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-23192535721730618402017-03-21T18:55:42.146-05:002017-03-21T18:55:42.146-05:00This is an idea that seems to be in the air. It is...This is an idea that seems to be in the air. It is hard to tune out annoying music when it is thumping at you in a restaurant, though.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-27265087182194686522017-03-21T18:48:47.972-05:002017-03-21T18:48:47.972-05:00Well Bryan, wasn't it just 4 days ago, in comm...Well Bryan, wasn't it just 4 days ago, in comments under your St. Patty's Day "Friday Miscellanea" article, when I invoked the (personal lifestyle) monastic solution as described by Morris Berman in his book "Twilight of American Culture"? Perhaps Mr. Hanson has read it too?<br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/Twilight-American-Culture-Morris-Berman/dp/039332169X<br /><br />Regarding the vulgar and hollow popular culture around us, I find it too big to fight, a waste of time. Better to just tune out of it, switch frequencies and find the art and ideas and values (and food and lifestyle) that work for you. The people don't want to be saved.Will Wilkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01997868915978439364noreply@blogger.com