I know I overestimate the value of some art and music, but I would much rather overvalue or read/misread too much beauty or meaning into things than undervalue or under-read, even if it is not exactly objectively justified. In a world in which I have access to such incredible art/music, I feel I have the right, if not the actual obligation, to overvalue rather than undervalue them, given that the perception/creation of beauty and meaning is to some degree a self-justifying end.
Saturday, June 20, 2026
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Notetaking
Peut-ĂȘtre que rien jamais [Perhaps nothing ever] love between small toy animals made of felt and wire quatuor pour la fin du temps "the...
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Lost media preservation efforts should focus less on pop culture and more on the constantly-uploaded, constantly-fading art and music by ind...
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I know I overestimate the value of some art and music, but I would much rather overvalue or read/misread too much beauty or meaning into thi...
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In the late 2000s and early 2010s, a vaguely defined cluster of largely online art scenes coagulated themselves out of the rapidly evolving ...
My current thinking is as follows, I think there is nothing wrong (of course) with overvaluing little nothings that chafe off throughout the world as with the passage of time (though this metaphor is incomplete as it is precisely that these "nothings" are produced thru labor). Among other reasons, I would say that there is a deep importance to valuing minor and lesser valued art/otherwise because I think there is a real sense in which it all matters. I'm having in mind with this discourse about the strategic utility of land mass. There are narratives that, for example, Iran has been well positioned geographically in these recent conflicts due to its being mountain located. This may be true and there is a certain historical record to affirm this, sure. But then it is also the case that struggle against empire and these other forces happens too in all these other non-mountained places over the world (because it is that empire does not really care about the possess of mountains or not, it is that empire is interested in the possession of it all). I say this to suggest this point that it is all of strategic importance. (If not geographical (because of the ability to engage in combat) then geographical (because of the ability to extract resources). Indeed this is why Mali is of importance and the Congo is of importance and Ecuador is of importance and... All of these poor global south countries are strategically necessary, actually. And thus I think there is a real importance to taking seriously all the things that we can that we come across. Because it is that many people in the world do try with what they do and put their heart and their feelings into it. And I believe that by taking seriously what these utterances are and what they are struggling with, it becomes possible to develop -- yes, in the case you're talking about an affective response to an observation of / encounter with beauty -- but to speak more generally, a kind of strategy. How does this thing operate? To be clear, though, I am still struggling with both how I feel about this topic (what is the true end point of my arguments; it's still awash a bit as I've presented here) but then also of how to deliver this and to speak to others about this. It is that I understand I have a tendency to be too assertive and I recognize in this a limitation to the pedagogic utility (among other things) -- it is not useful per se to talk down to people. There are too many things that I don't know and I as tempting as it can be to jump to the quick to think that all the people I talk with know no better, it is too that there are a lot of important pieces of data and experiences and knowledge in general that I simply do not possess and thus my analysis and conclusions are limited in that lack.
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