So is this really After Eight's entire schtick? I've been lurking on the forum's for a while, and I don't think I've ever encountered someone so wholeheartedly devoted to insulting everyone who has a different opinion than him and his mythical "99.9999999%" (because, like the pretentious person he is, he has deluded himself into thinking that he represents the majority. He has also deluded himself into believing that "most people disagree with you" is an effective condemnation of taste.)
I mean, I don't think I've ever read a thread relating to a Sondheim show where he didn't eventually pop out of his cave to tell us all (in the most condescending, hyperbolic terms possible) about Sondheim's artistic and moral failings and how Not Good most of Sondheim's shows are and how normal people don't like Sondheim and so on. He can't seem to let a single positive statement about a Sondheim work go by without him telling us all how wrong we are. When people react negatively to his rantings, he accuses them of being "diehard fanboys" or other such mindless rhetoric - never realizing that it's not the opinions, but how they're presented that cause the strong reactions.
Take this thread as a great example of the After Eight effect: People were discussing their different opinions respectfully, with no condescension or vitriol, and with no need to make grand pronouncements about the relative refinement or sophistication or validity of one person's taste over another. And then After Eight showed up.
Here's a hint for After Eight: Ones "pretentiousness" and "humanness" aren't determined by what shows you like or even why you like them. They're determined by how you interact with other people. GavestonPS was perfectly respectful in his posts here (I have a really hard time imagining you ever uttering the words: "No apology required. We can agree to disagree.") You, on the other hand, are vitriolic and disrespectful. You also suffer from the delusion that you speak for the "common man," which makes you extremely pretentious (and which lends your posts a strident tone.) In reality, your posts reveal you as far more of an elitist than anyone else here.
That is all to say, you are the most dried up, pretentious person I've ever encountered on an internet forum.
That has nothing to do with your opinion of Sondheim - I've known several people who were ambivalent to or disliked Sondheim, and who were willing to express their feelings in strong terms, who I still respected a great deal and loved talking to. Wanna know the difference between you and them? The way they talked to other people. They didn't pretend that their opinion of a composer made them more intelligent or honest or human than anyone else. They weren't under the impression that they were constantly fighting a war against "elitism" and "bad taste" (ie, opinions that were different from their own.)
I know you imagine yourself as some brave hero who's willing to speak truth to power - but, in reality, you're not conquering elitism. You're perpetuating it. And you're making yourself look like an entirely unpleasant, arrogant jerk in the process.
Updated On: 7/12/13 at 02:14 PM
