I have several problems with this:
- The entire point of subjectivity is that you make personal judgments, not that you make no judgments at all.
True, but I'm not arguing that. What I am arguing is that I don't like the view that no musician is better than another with the defense of an "it's all subjective" argument. Some musicians ARE better than others. Professional musicians that I go and see at clubs around Chicago ARE better than me. Of course, that doesn't mean that I can't one day reach their level, but to kid myself into thinking that I am on their level due to subjectivity would be foolish on my part.
- I've never actually heard the "it's all subjective" argument made by anyone knowledgeable- it always seems to come from ignorant people who can't deal with the fact that someone might know more than them. It's not any kind of establishment/PC position that I've ever been exposed to.
Well, I've certainly seen it made on here quite a bit. Just look at the Ginger Baker thread from a while back and you'll see plenty of it. There were two quotes in that thread that I highly agree with:
I've talked to a lot of older musicians about this better is all subjective thing, and they just look at me like I'm nuts. One of them told me How do I hire the better drummer when I can't tell what better is?
Sometimes I log on here and wonder if I am living/playing in some alternate universe where there actually IS a difference between a 6 year old drummer after his first lesson and a seasoned player with 33 years of experience. Clearly, reality must be wrong.
Clearly, I am not the only person that has seen this on here.
- I don't recognize this "self-esteem"/"everybody makes the team" movement from real life- and I went to a hippie school in the biggest hippie town in America in the 1970's. I've heard a lot about it on right-wing radio however, almost like it's a made-up bogeyman.
I can tell you right now I'm probably the farthest thing from right wing. However, from my own experiences a lot of younger kids do have an attitude that they always deserve a reward for something. I'm a teacher myself, and I see it all the time. Thing is, it's not the kids' fault, it's the parents' fault. I've especially seen this from other special ed. teachers. The kids who did their reading at home for the month for the Book It program would get ice cream as a reward. One teacher would always give all the kids ice cream arguing that it wasn't fair. Uh, yeah it is fair because they did the work. So the message they're sending to the kids who didn't do the work is that they can not do the work and still get rewarded. Then the kids who did do the work see this and say to themselves "why should I do the work when they did nothing and still got rewarded?" They feel sorry for the kids and that's the worst possible thing you can do, because when they get out in the real world nobody is going to feel sorry for them, and reality is going to smack them down hard.
This has nothing to do with political views. You're experiences are obviously different than mine, therefor we have differing opinions. Nothing wrong with that. I base my opinion on my experiences, so I'm not going to change it because I have seen it.
Avoiding saying offensive things is not PC, it's just being a gentleman. But I don't think teachers need to coddle students' feelings, and I have not met many teachers who do.
Well, I have. Especially in special ed. The above is just one example. But saying that people shouldn't use the word "better" is different. So anybody who says that one musician is better than another is not being a gentleman? Sorry, but I don't agree with that at all. If somebody finds it offensive when somebody says that this musician is better than that musician, then they just need to grow a thicker skin.
- I think you're misinterpreting what (Branford) Marsalis said- I don't believe he is responding to so-called political correctness. He appears to be complaining that over-privileged (that's my interpretation) students are basically refusing serious instruction, and schools are degrading their standards not in the name of PC, but in competing for those students.
He didn't specify that so I guess that's open to interpretation, but even if your interpretation is correct, I don't think that the attitudes of the students he talks about simply applies to over-privileged kids, because I've seen it a lot with kids from middle and working class families as well. Kids who can't handle any kind of negative criticism and expect to be praised all the time. To say that only over-privileged kids act that way is not true.
Granted, it's not in the name of PC, but the fact is that a lot of kids nowadays are brought up with the "nothing but praise" attitude, and it doesn't just apply to the upper class. Again, parents are to blame for that, not kids.