Conformity to popular culture is no transcendent experience, certainly.
Nor is it less absurd to consider the so-called highbrow culture to be more than what it is, refinement of taste and intellectual probity being a matter of character and principle, independent of particular mores, academic institutions, and social constructs.
To be knowledgeable and conversant in both contemporary and classical arts and attitudes is valuable for the simple reason that there are fewer limits to be encountered in doing so, and wise because it provides a greater fund of information through which to navigate the world of ideas and emotionally charged perspectives.
Cultural detritus is easily dismissed; the unexpected may lead to an epiphany.
Nor is it less absurd to consider the so-called highbrow culture to be more than what it is, refinement of taste and intellectual probity being a matter of character and principle, independent of particular mores, academic institutions, and social constructs.
To be knowledgeable and conversant in both contemporary and classical arts and attitudes is valuable for the simple reason that there are fewer limits to be encountered in doing so, and wise because it provides a greater fund of information through which to navigate the world of ideas and emotionally charged perspectives.
Cultural detritus is easily dismissed; the unexpected may lead to an epiphany.
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