Amanda Marcotte's not-so-recent post on punk rock and honesty got me thinking about a conversation I had with Rick the other day.

One of my most inconvenient beliefs is a staunch opposition to snobbery in its many, many forms. I'm not entirely sure where it comes from, but it elements of its roots can probably be found in the fact that I was not particularly popular when I was in school and that most of my school came from families with a lot more money than mine (or, at least, families that consumed as if they had more money).

And yet I have seen a lot of people in similar situations turn to their own forms of snobbery. If most of the alternative/punk/grunge movement was not borne from the fact that artsy people are very often ostracized in their younger years, I'm not sure what it is borne from. Intellectual contempt for the masses likely has similar origins.

In the cases of the freaks and the geeks, they tend to form their own hierarchies. Pissant arguments between punk-rock fans about appreciating the most obscure artist they can find are legendary. While computer nerds tend to have more utilitarian methods of stratification, it can sometimes revolve around who can demonstrate a sufficient amount of animosity for Microsoft. And don't get me started on anime fans and American voice dubbing.

I suppose it's natural for people to stratify. I'm not sure if it could really be any other way. But generally speaking, it's an inclination that I fiercely resist. Not just because I used to be the target of such things (and still am, I guess, though I don't really care as much), but because I see it as being one of the cheapest, easiest ways to feel better about yourself: at someone else's expense.

Forrest Gump once said "If you can't sing good, sing loud."

If you can't be better, be different. If a group of people reject you (say the "in-crowd" at high school), reject them back. In the process, exalt yourself to a higher place of enlightenment and individuality. Talk about how you're different and they're just all the same. How you've really taken the time to learn to appreciate good music or film or whatever, while the unwashed masses just accept what's fed to them by corporate America.

Extra points if you say all this while you're smoking a cigarette.

Though while I voice my opposition to snobbery in all its forms, it's nearly impossible not to fall prey to it myself. It's impossible to justify liking anything without saying that you think it is better than the other options available. And while I can often say that I simply "fail to appreciate" a particular form of music or film, if I absolutely refuse any claim to a judgment of the art itself (rather than my failure to appreciate it), then I am saying that some idiot who records a modem connecting and calls it art is the artistic equivalent to someone that spent years working on their masterpiece.

And that's not right, either.

So then I'm somewhat left to either (a) have no real opinions on art at all or (b) fall prey to the snobbery that I detest. And when you get down to it, I don't believe all music is equal. I do believe that there are people who simply accept what is recommended by the big record labels or the art film critics or high priests of indy alt punk rock.

And the most obnoxious people are all are those who say "Well I appreciate all kinds of music" with the smug belief that it makes them somehow more relevent than those that simply prefer this kind of music than that.

Except that I'm that way!

Well, not entirely. I fail to appreciate most rap and R&B, nor do I have any use for techno. But today alone I've listened to James McMurtry, REM, They Might Be Giants, Cake, and Randy Rogers.

So does that make me a better consumer of music?

Well, no.

So does that mean that the amount of time and effort I put in to finding new (to me) music gives me no more claim to the term "music lover" than some guy who listens to smooth jazz radio all day long?

Well, no.

ARGH!