Oct 20 2011: It is very easy to listen to and, therefore, like: harmonious, melodious, repetitive. It is people like Schoenberg who are very difficult to listen to, understand or like. And intellectual snobs ridiculed young people coming to music for preferring the old classical composers of melody and harmony and not understanding Schoenberg and his ilk. As a result they turned to stuff that's fun the listen to, like the Beatles,
Oct 20 2011: I'll send you a plate. I was one of the masses who, as a teenager in the mid-20th century was sneered at for my plebian taste for Verdi and other melody-rich and harmonious music.
For the same scenario in architecture read "From Bauhaus to Our House" by Tom Wolfe.
For the same scenario in literature, I speak from personal experience as an editor and project manager for an international publisher.
Oct 20 2011: Opera (and other forms of classical music) was crushed from two sides: (a) the snobbery associated with it and (b) avant garde composers who shoved undigestible rubbish down their long-suffering audiences' throats and ridiculed anyone who loved the "easy-listening" music with traditional harmony and melody.
There must always be room for experiment in art and new forms that may at first be inaccessible. But unfortunately, because the atonal classical music from the midddle of the last century was so inaccessible, it gave a lot of room for talentless con artists to jump on the band waggon and pretend that what they produced was art and alienated and ridiculed anyone who did not appreciate it. So anyone who listened to Verdi was considered a low-brow idiot and driven from the theatre by ridicule. So an entire generation since then did not bring up their children to love opera as their forefathers had.
Architecture suffered much the same fate, as did poetry and reading. Kids are still being brought up that they should only read "good books" under which is understood, anything that is not enjoyable. Based on the mindless philosophy that if food tastes bad it must be good for you, like spinach, and you should avoid any food that tastes good. So, if it is a boring read, it is a good book. So "good mothers" forbid their chidlren to read thrillers or romances and they end up reading nothing at all, ever. That is what happened to opera.
Therefore, if you want audiences, respect them. The avant garde did not respect their audiences.
Oct 19 2011: I don't think the people with whom you normally interact would "adapt" to mask their lies. I think these "signs of deception" are subconsciously deliberate, so that the person can maintain his integrity (square things up with himself). For the most part deception is a courtesy. It is good manners. We have to lie for social reasons, but to remain whole and maintain integrity, we leak all these signs of deception.
Context, as someone pointed out, is important. In a social situation, I would expect to see deception leakage, because I know the people are being polite. In some contexts, if I see no signs of deception, I will be highly suspicious that this might be a cold-blooded psychopath. I believe the experts can spot "micro-expressions" even in a psychopath, but I doubt it. They have no need to maintain integrity. They're perfectly happy with their lies and proud of the awful things they do; there is no anxiety about "how do I reconcile this behaviour with how I think of myself?".
I lived with a psychopath for three years as a child. They fool everybody because they don't feel the need to maintain integrity. And they don't bother to lie to those who are helpless, can do them no harm, don't have the credibility to expose them (a child). The helpless experience the full force of their brutality and cruelty.
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A reply on Conversation: What do you think is the main reason why contemporary kids do not like / understand opera?
A comment on Conversation: What do you think is the main reason why contemporary kids do not like / understand opera?
For the same scenario in architecture read "From Bauhaus to Our House" by Tom Wolfe.
For the same scenario in literature, I speak from personal experience as an editor and project manager for an international publisher.
A comment on Conversation: What do you think is the main reason why contemporary kids do not like / understand opera?
There must always be room for experiment in art and new forms that may at first be inaccessible. But unfortunately, because the atonal classical music from the midddle of the last century was so inaccessible, it gave a lot of room for talentless con artists to jump on the band waggon and pretend that what they produced was art and alienated and ridiculed anyone who did not appreciate it. So anyone who listened to Verdi was considered a low-brow idiot and driven from the theatre by ridicule. So an entire generation since then did not bring up their children to love opera as their forefathers had.
Architecture suffered much the same fate, as did poetry and reading. Kids are still being brought up that they should only read "good books" under which is understood, anything that is not enjoyable. Based on the mindless philosophy that if food tastes bad it must be good for you, like spinach, and you should avoid any food that tastes good. So, if it is a boring read, it is a good book. So "good mothers" forbid their chidlren to read thrillers or romances and they end up reading nothing at all, ever. That is what happened to opera.
Therefore, if you want audiences, respect them. The avant garde did not respect their audiences.
A comment on Talk: Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liar
Context, as someone pointed out, is important. In a social situation, I would expect to see deception leakage, because I know the people are being polite. In some contexts, if I see no signs of deception, I will be highly suspicious that this might be a cold-blooded psychopath. I believe the experts can spot "micro-expressions" even in a psychopath, but I doubt it. They have no need to maintain integrity. They're perfectly happy with their lies and proud of the awful things they do; there is no anxiety about "how do I reconcile this behaviour with how I think of myself?".
I lived with a psychopath for three years as a child. They fool everybody because they don't feel the need to maintain integrity. And they don't bother to lie to those who are helpless, can do them no harm, don't have the credibility to expose them (a child). The helpless experience the full force of their brutality and cruelty.