THE RIOT REPORT / EDITORIAL DEMONSTRATION
Taste is a conversation. It does not have to become a courtroom.
There is a song you know is ridiculous. The rhyme is lazy. The production is a little too shiny. You love it anyway, and every time you explain yourself you make it sound less enjoyable.
Taste becomes tedious when it is treated as a portfolio of defensible decisions. Every favourite needs a reason. Every reason must demonstrate that we understood the assignment. Somewhere in that paperwork, delight gets lost.
Criticism is not a permission slip
A good critic can make you hear something you missed. They can locate a work in a larger conversation or explain why an apparently small decision matters. That is valuable. It does not require them to approve your affection.
You can recognise a film’s failures and keep loving its atmosphere. You can dislike a celebrated record without performing a counterattack against everyone who likes it. A preference does not become more serious because it sounds like a verdict.
You can love something without winning the argument.
Leave room for the unreasonable
Ask a friend why they like a thing, and listen without preparing a rebuttal. The answer might be a memory rather than an analysis. It might be “because it sounds good in the car.” That is information too.
Keep the criticism. Keep the standards. Keep a few favourites that refuse to justify themselves. A culture made entirely of correct opinions would be unbearable.
This is original demonstration commentary for The Riot Report development site. Imagined scenes are fictional; this article is not current-event reporting.