From: John L. Micek, jlmicek@mindspring.com
Subject: Re: Must. Crush. All. Dissent.
Date: 2/25/2002 10:59:49 AM
To: Mike Fulmer, fulmer.4@osu.edu


> John,
>    I don't see anyone here "shutting down dissent." I do see fans 
> discovering ill-informed "reviews" of our favorite band, and trying 
> to counter with their own thoughts/insights, hoping that someone 
> reaching for the latest Creed will look over, see AENT nearby, and 
> think of the comments posted on VH1...then probably buy Creed anyway.
>    Maybe some critics need a thicker skin. They should know they will 
> dissapoint some no matter what they say. And VH1 seems to encourage 
> "vituperative denuniciations" by inviting reader comments with the 
> following:
> 

Mike:
I've read some of the ripostes to the VH-1 review. WhatI find hysterical is
the
fact that the respondents are denouncing the critic for being "wrong" for
completely subjective judgments.
It is not, in fact, empirically provable that the Esmeralda song is about a
virgin visitation at Fatima. Yes,
it makes reference to it, but if the VH-1 reviewer took away the impression
that it was about "an incestuous community,:" then so what? That's the
beauty of song lyrics, it means something different to each person.
Or, for instance, countering that the Church has rocked you harder than U2
does not disprove someone's opinion that the Church, musically speaking,
resemble U2. It is simply countering someone's opinion with your own. It
does not, by any stretch, make the reviewer provably wrong for drawing his
own conclusions from the music.
To my way of thinking, "ill-informed," in this case, translates into "I
don't agree with your slamming my favorite band."

And, really, that's my complaint about this whole thread of late. Any
review that does not speak of the band in anything less than hushed and
reverential tones is immediately shouted down as heretical. That's
hypocritcal in the least and intellectual facism in the extreme. They're
not sacrosanct and can, in fact, be criticized.

john. 


_____________________________________________________
John L. Micek
Harrisburg Correspondent
The Morning Call
Allentown, Pa.