Originally posted by mel I love the gear side. And I love the art side. But if I have to explain the art side, I've failed in getting my point across.
[I speak now of the Anglophone sphere in which I've mostly lived.]
We are trained to talk about gear, about stuff. From infancy, we are immersed in the material world. We learn to talk about the details of the stuff we wear and play with and break and fix. We learn about the structure of the stuff we use. We are trained to glory in stuff, because we can be sold stuff. It's the buying and selling of stuff, that powers our society. Use more stuff! Break more stuff! Buy more stuff!
We are not trained to talk about aesthetics. We learn to express our likes and dislikes regarding the stuff that's around us (and those likes and dislikes are powerfully shaped by our exposure to stuff). But we generally don't learn analysis and critical thinking, how to think about contexts and meanings and implications. We can't be sold contexts and meanings and implications; we can only be sold stuff.
I blame advertising agencies.