Originally Posted by Fdemetrio
Originally Posted by Michael Zaneski
Hi folks,

All good thoughts, keep them coming.

My original post was muddled as I was conflating several problems together.

I truly find the fact that social media makes the sharing of opinions immediate and level to be a vexing problem, and find myself sometimes a hypocrite when I like it cuz it's favoring me and hate it when it's not.

I agree with FD, there's things we talk about that clearly fall into objective or subjective categories, as in liking a song is a subjective thing, but certain basic properties of what makes a song "good" may fall more into the objective.

I'll throw this out there. Probably not a new thought and definitely not meant to stir up trouble, but the mood of this place changes with the folks who populate it, true, but I strongly believe it changes also because of the greater emotional landscape we are in as USA citizens and as World citizens. It seems we are all just a little more short tempered and quick to pass judgement on our peers, and I have to wonder why..wonder where it comes from..as I sit back in my chair and worry over Korea, potential future wars, border problems, etc...we are ALL affected by what is transpiring in our Country and in the World, on many levels, and by a man who is a de facto role model, like it or not.

So when I see potential fights break out over (to me) silly things (in the BIGGER picture) like "this artist is better than that one" or even when it's more personal and about not liking a line in our own song, I have to step back and go "whoa..time out..this was supposed to be fun.." Yes, it's also fun to get passionate when talking about the quality of a song, but let's also be aware that we used to be a little more tolerant of others' thoughts. THIS is the key change I think our current climate has brought on. It feels to me like our levels of tolerance of others who have differences of opinions has dropped significantly. It is not hard to look out into the world and see how this could easily happen. It's the basic fractal nature of..nature: what is happening on a grand scale is also happening when you dive down into the nitty-gritty of places like this.

Let's find a way to retain our humanity and maybe try to be a little more tolerant of others' opinions about subjective things?

Where's our sense of humor? Our current state of seriousness is definitely one trait I can see as having trickled down from the greater emotional landscape engulfing our Country.

Mike


That's so true. When I "used to" critique, I dont any more, but even at my harshest, I never attacked the person. Sometimes they took it as an attack and it was all on then. But when I see social media, twitter Facebook youtube posts, and how mean and nasty and basicly evil the comments are...it makes me long for a time when we didn't have the internet.

There is alot of things social media and internet are good for, but it sickens me to realize how mean people are in general. There was a story on yahoo about a little girl who got hit with a baseball at a ball game. She was sitting with her grandfather and a foul ball hit her. So naturally the peanut gallery starting commenting underneath. "How stupid to bring a child to a ball game", these parents should be put in jail for such negligence, or the halfway decent "im sorry for the little girl, but these parents should know better" etc etc etc. lets stop to think for a minute. The family has to be beside themselves at this moment, the girl was fighting for her life. Imagine the guilt and how hurt they are about this, and then they have to read all the commentary from people who dont really care either way, they are entertaining themselves. As if the parents dont already have all these thoughts going through their mind.

It's truly a sad world we live in. Id like to chalk it up to people not realizing that the people they are bashing are real people, but it just continues and its generally accepted to bash people online, and get a thumbs up and get a laugh from other people.

When I was a kid, my folks had opinions of presidents and such, but it never left the household, there was no real place to go with your opinions, and you assumed nobody cared what you thought anyway. Then the net came around and now everybody is an expert on all topics, politics, health care, immigration, music, recording, production, Tv, Movies.

Its more likely to bring out the worst in us than the best. I honestly sometimes do wish we could back to simpler times, but it wont happen.

Anyway, nobody likes their hard work to get a negative response, i dont like it any more than any one else does. And i think there is a certain amount of bullying that goes with it.

There is an implication that if somebody gives you a critique, that they assume they are better than you are, and are qualifies to give the negative review. That pisses people off, and it may be true. If we felt the writer was better than we are, we might not say anything. So there's that "WHO TF is this guy to tell me my lyrics are weak"

You wont see a critique out of me again. If it's an opinion. I LIKE this, then i may say it, or if somebody asks me specifically for an honest critique, maybe. Then again if your wife asks you if she looks fat in her new dress......





Hi FD,

All good thoughts, thanks for them.

It comes down to the fact, for me, that being in a club like Facebook or JPF is a choice I make, so I need to catch myself when I find I'm complaining about the very medium I am using to make that complaint. Social media is only as good as you make it, but it does turn the stomach to witness how some use it.

And being a big Marc Maron fan and listening to his podcasts (which include a great over-an-hour conversation with The Boss from last year, btw..) I have come to realize that it's NOT because there's anything wrong with us, being offended by spiteful tweets and ugly posts. Conversations about social media have come up a LOT on his podcasts, and you'd be surprised how many high profile artists DON'T read any of the "anonymous" crap folks can write about them, and many don't use social media at all!. There was just no evolutionary preparation for such potential bombardment of negativity! Not for people who weren't performing live, at least. To me, it's a fascinating subject. The times are still a' changin' fo sho..

But if we've chosen to belong to a particular club, I suppose it's a mature place to be, to accept that with membership may come the occasional flying bits of crap. wink

And I can own that I am no saint. For some reason, when talking about something within the umbrella of "sampling culture" I will get so passionate that I can go rouge and let my passion put hurtful words in my mouth.

BTW, I'm also in agreement about reading lyrics in tandem with listening, not before.

Thanks again,

Mike

Last edited by Michael Zaneski; 07/06/19 12:53 PM.
Fate doesn't hang on a wrong or right choice
Fortune depends on the tone of your voice

-The Divine Comedy (Neil Hannon)
from the song "Songs of Love"
from the album "Casanova" (1996)