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Can taste be discussed?



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Can taste be discussed?

I'm in a never ending quest for beauty, collecting the worlds unique masterpieces, collecting them mentally that is, for I could never buy them even if have the keys to the federal bank.
But wait, who decided that Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is a masterpiece, or Michelangelo's David for that matter.
Some say taste can't be discussed, I say no, what do you say?

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Keibah2
I always feel taste can be discussed but with like minds of course, with people that share the same passion and enthusiasm as you.

just like different opinions, people have different preferences hence you can't force your ideas on someone who doesn't share the same light as you. Like the saying goes "what is good for the goose is good for the gander.



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zheh
Yeah this is a brief but exact way of describing it. Maybe that's why they say birds with the same feathers flock together. Cause we often find comfort in discussing something with someone with the same way of either thinking, attitude or preference that are the same with us. We can't judge anyone's taste, It's just a matter of differences.



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anor0428
Very well said! you can never say that one has a bad or better taste just because it is not same as yours. Like opinions, we should also respect one's taste. Taste is like expression of yourself where you can be comfortable with. Can taste be discussed?



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dzannerz
At some point your right because what you taste or how you taste things is definitely differ from others, but if I have to answer this Ill go Yes it can be discussed why not??? It is indeed can be discussed because it is like something that you are just saying your own opinion about a thing or about a food and through that part of saying an opinion then you will be discussing it because you are about to say something about on what you taste.



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emoxigh27
Couldn't agree more! We have what we called "freedom of speech", therefore everyone can express their passions in life. Not all people will appreciate that but, I can agree that sharing it with someone who has the same interest is much fun. Telling other people your tastes doesn't mean they have to have the same taste, rather sharing information and experiences are what we can get out of these.



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iamawriter
You must have heard of the saying 'Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder' That explains everything. A heap of garbage could perhaps look artistic in the eyes of an artist.

Can taste be discussed?

This is just the dead bark of a tree



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treecko142
Yeah, I think each field has their expert's opinion and a public opinion. Most people who are really familiar with the field agree with the tastes of the experts, but the public opinion can sometimes vary. Of course, there are those that are universally well-received, so it's just a matter of people forming their own opinion.



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Joteque
Well it's a matter of preference, class and perhaps a person's innate ability towards something that they naturally feel enthusiastic about incorporating into some aspect of their life in one form or the next. Taste can be discussed but since it is a matter of preference it must be discussed amongst like minds who do not mind sharing their common interest so that they can effectively relate to the things that really appeal to them. Taste is unique, you cannot really criticize someone for what appeals to them and you cannot force them into accepting something that they do not feel genuinely optimistic about. It's sort of like what a person prefers to eat or drink out of their very own free will of course. You cannot convince a vegetarian to try a beef burger when the vegetarian is already almost religiously hooked on vegan food and will not choose otherwise because of their personal preference. Taste is essentially the hidden sense that genuinely appeals to a person in the natural order of things.



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Destiny00
Very well said! Taste is opinion; I believe it can discussed in the same way that any opinion can. It's a matter of preference and can be influenced by culture and common values. Tastes also change, as individuals grow and time passes. Some items (literary and artistic masterpieces, for example) stand the test of time, others simply do not.



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SirenOnFire
I agree! People always say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I believe it is the same with taste. It really depends on someone and no same person has the same taste 100%, whether it be food, art, or clothing. And yes, you can't criticize someone who doesn't have the same taste as you. The way we look at things is the product of how we were brought up, our beliefs and experiences in life. What I can say though is you are what you eat.



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Judas2018
Taste is something that changes with decades and generations. It's a very fluid medium. Peoples tastes in film, clothes, culture, music, food, etc changes every 10 years or so. Sometimes even earlier than that. Because our attention spans as people are getting shorter. But SOME things stand the test of time and are liked, loved and embraced by every new generation. That's what makes them special.



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fulstaf
You're right about our taste evolving over the years. whenever I hear a young man complaining about the complexity of Shakespeare's works, I tell him to wait until his mid thirties.



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pandooh
So true. It's a cycle that we fail to see. Yet we criticize every detail of it not knowing that it's a great work for others.
Maybe there are just made to become a legend and some are just a stepping stone by the legends.



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iamawriter
Sometimes eye for art develops suddenly that hitherto lies dormant in many. I never knew I was good in making flower arrangements or designing landscaped gardens but there I was doing all that with success much later in my life.



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DarthHazard
Definitely. Things that are able to stay in style and survive for years are definitely special but right now it is difficult for a lot of things to be like that. I just can't see too much of the stuff that is currently in style still being in style in a few years time and I guess that is the problem with a lot of people. Our attention spans like you said are getting shorter so people like different things very quickly



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wiseagent
judas2018,

Speaking from my own experience... Time really changes a lot of our tastes, but I think it doesn't act alone because life experiences influence us to change our minds (and this can happen much faster than we can imagine).



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AmieBotella
Taste can be discussed, but can never be categorized as facts. Because taste is a personal preference. While majority of tastes are similar in nature, not everyone will agree on it. Also change varies through time and changes in one's personality, point of view, circumstances and trend. One thing is true also, Taste is constantly changing.



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lovefoxycharms
Why not? I do not think there's something wrong with discussing it. After all, they are like opinions that other people should also respect. We should be free to express them since it's the way how we can say that, "This is me, this is what I want." After all, you do not ask them to buy or make it for you. You own it. It is a matter of self-expression. There's nothing wrong with expressing yourself.



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JoeMilford
I agree with you. When did we all get such a thin skin that we can't have productive, rather than negative, arguments with one another? Everyone is so worried about being politically correct all the time that they are losing lots of great opportunities for great discussions, Also, since we have lost the art of discussion, once we do actually have an argument, it can often lead sadly to violence instead of mutual education. It's a shame.



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overcast
I think it is matter of perspective and being around right set of the people. Those are the ones that are going to decide how the taste can be discussed. You have to understand that it'd be reasonable to have difference of opinion. Some people just don't like to see your worldview on things. I think on that basis, taste is something you can not discuss all the time with people. They may not like different view.

Some of the people like murder mysteries. But other people can't find that sort of the view good enough for them. And that's where you have to let people have their own space.



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iamawriter
Even among siblings they could all have different tastes be it for art, for fashion and even food.
Some have it in them and some cultivate it more with a view to surviving in this world.



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overcast
Yes taste is developed based on our experience and the perception of the world. That's why two people from same blood line and house have different experience. And that's how the taste has changed for many of us there as well. I think taste based on survival is also different. Here we choose what helps. And when it's not about survival then things are about moods. That's the thing about the taste.



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wallet
Yes, I think that taste cannot be discussed. This is what everyone feels and it cannot be changed, is in our nature as we like or dislike something. Only the things or people around can influence a bit our tastes but this cannot be judged by no one.
Evryone has its values, beliefs, and taste, this is what defines us as a person, and we should be respected for how we are.



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Tronia
That's not true though. I bet your values changed through time. Nobody has exactly the same values as they had as a child, for example. As you grow, you change. With it changes your beliefs, values and your taste as well. That is why I believe that taste CAN be discussed.



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anor0428
Yes, it would be a good discussion. People have different tastes for everything. Some have reasons why they choose such taste either it is for clothes, designs, arts,etc. Well sometimes, taste do depend on some factors. For example, some people depend their taste according to their favorite artist, since they idolize them, they buy stuffs like what that artist.



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SirenOnFire
I believe that of course it can be discussed. This topic for conversation though needs an open mind for all parties interacting since no person what the same taste whether in food, music or any other things. We are all unique beings and despite having similarities on one thing, we can't agree in all. Having respect in our differences and uniqueness, and the ability to appreciate it is needed for taste to have a positively interactive discussion. I guess what I'm saying is having the ability to agree to disagree, and not pushing on other's throats your opinion.



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JoeMilford
Great point here in terms of being open-minded. We can't learn from each other, under any circumstances, if we do not insist upon and remember to have open minds. It's okay not to agree, but it is NOT OK not to listen to one another and to consider all sides of an issue or situation. Being able to participate in what you called the "interactive discussion" is completely integral to our personal growth and to the expansion of our minds. Having taste in something is one thing; being able to appreciate your own tastes through the eyes of another or to appreciate theirs in a new light is the key to awesome communication.



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SirenOnFire
I strongly agree with you on that and it's really great that you get what I mean. Unfortunately, not everyone sees is that way. I have experienced many times than I can count when other people force their opinions on me and it is truly both annoying and irritating. Interactive discussions are just not possible with these kind of individuals. It is sad though that because of their attitude, they are not able to savor and experience the beauty in other people's perspective and taste. Individuality and uniqueness is truly wonderful if you just allow yourself to appreciate it.



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JoeMilford
I am glad I am not one of those people who thinks that he is always right. What a sad and even tougher life I would be living, or would have to live, if that were the case. Even IF I was right about everything, when it comes to culture, art, music, movies, etc,. it sure would be a boring as hell world if everyone just shared my opinion or the same opinion in general. We really would all be the unoriginal walking dead at that point.



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SirenOnFire
I think being right at everything would all the fun in life. It would be too lonely and depressing. I mean there's no more adventure, thrill nor something to look forward to everyday. People change and grow because of many things, and that's one of the few things that makes being human such a wonderful thing. We don't stay and be 100% the same forever.



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JoeMilford
You are absolutely right. For example, we would not all be coming to these forums and being inquisitive and speaking to one another if we were not trying to learn from each other. Also, with the diverse demographic that an online global forum can have, we are all guaranteed, obviously, to have different tastes. It seems like, from my observations so far, that forums are a great place to exchange different ideas and to express different feelings about things, and for the most part, in my experience, people are pretty civilized here. Not so much on Reddit though...lol...



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JoeMilford
Well, taste is one thing; we all have our separate and individual preferences in things, or tastes. However, just because I have a "taste" for Chunky Monkey ice cream does not mean it is good for me, or if I have "taste" for the poems of Charles Bukowski, that does not mean that there isn't a lot of better poetry out there. I think that taste can absolutely be argued based on some elements of each genre and how well a piece of art or literature lives up to what it is promising to a discerning audience. Somebody could say that children's finger paintings are in good taste, and they are, but comparing them to Da VInci or Rembrant, to me, would be ridiculous. These are two totally different worlds, and the worlds of "high" art and "low" art both have plenty of room to thrive in all of our cultures, regardless of our personal tastes.



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augusta
Why not, taste can be changed because what you love today can be a piece of trash tomorrow especially for trendy things.There are somethings I have and I'm like why did I go for this piece of shit but I bought it was the most important piece of assets.So yes tastes changes as we grow older.



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fulstaf
Our taste change over time, yes, but don't you agree that it stops changing at a certain point in our life, and become a certainty.



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trebor2017
People has their own freedom to choose what they want. We all have different taste that's why sometimes people ask others opinion and from that a person's taste can change but you have the freedom if you want to change your taste even if it's for better or worse. So taste can be discussed.



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naknakdatu
Of course yes, everything can be discussed. It is actually a good conversion piece.



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wiseagent
I agree with you, but the problem is the poor education of people that makes everything more complicated and annoying.

Everything can be discussed, but not everything is discussed politely (and this is very worrisome).



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Judas2018
Peoples tastes change due to life also. You'd be surprised how many people claim to hate or despise genres of music or film or certain types of foods. Then one day, they have that particular food prepared for them a certain way. Or hear a song or see a film from that genre of music or cinema. All of a sudden, they're a convert to that art. All it takes is the right product and circumstances.



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SirenOnFire
I agree. People change through time and because of their experiences, and so as their taste on anything ranging from food, clothing, music, television show. If the lay shade on a specific taste just to have the same thing after a while would be really funny, and I have met quite a few who swallowed their words because of that. Some even pretend to have this specific kind of taste despite feeling otherwise just because that is the popular thing and society expects that, and that is the perfect example of hypocrisy.



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diels1001
I guessed taste is based from someone's culture and growing environment. It's something like the preference of a man to a woman. There are some who wants chubby , others want cute and some likes those who are unique. Well, it's really a complicated matter since where talking of something mental. I guessed trying to read some psychology books will help you find an answer to your question.



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Tronia
Taste can definitely be discussed and it changes through times. Something that's considered good looking now, was considered ugly or terrible 10 years ago. Just look at basic things like clothes, hairstyle, cars, houses... everything changes because our taste changes. When society progresses we like new things. We find new things that we portray as appealing.

Taste is always subjective but not just at the individual level but also deeper, at the level of society and values that it portrays.



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vinaya
Ulycess by James Joyce was the #1 book of the 20th century in the fiction category and One Hundred Years of Solitude was the #2. Diary of the Young Girl by Anne Frank was the #1 book in nonfiction category in 20th century. So, who decided these books were the best books. The list of the best book was published by Time at the beginning of the new millennium. The list was based on sales figures, readers poll, and critics' review.
Usually, you don't have any taste, your taste is developed by other people, especially the elite class. You don't know about X book, critics say it is the best books, the newspapers publish stories about X book, you are tempted to buy and read X book. Now you think this is a brilliant book.



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fulstaf
This happened to me at one point in my life, now, I suspect that any authority or critic can dictate to me what a masterpiece should be, they can only suggest.



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PedroP
I think that it can be discussed but definitely not imposed. I can argue with you all day long as to why I prefer one thing or another but I might try to convince you that my opinion is superior. It wouldn't even be productive



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Heatman6190
Yes of course it can be discussed, there is a saying that no two things are made of the same quality or make up, and so it is about taste. It's never the same in any different commodities, be it personality or food or life or reason for decision making. It's never the same thing to different people.

There is a a concept know as individual differences, it's basically the same thing with taste. It simply changes in each and everyone that walks the earth, thereby making it a varying topic that is definitely open to a lot of discussion.



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sephzer
Definitely! You can recommend or tell to someone your taste or preferences then if it is up to them if they were going to accept it or not. Just show your taste or hobby to them and how passionate you are.



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wiseagent
Despite being "something" personal I really don't see any problem in discussing tastes, which I don't agree with (and I don't accept) are people who want to impose their points of view / tastes on the point of view / tastes of other people at all costs.

Oh, my... This is extremely annoying and I don't have the patience for these types of people.



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fulstaf
A real peace of art can never be imposed, it can only go strait to the heart, and you're right about those people who seems to be in love with their own voices.



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marbertism
You can't discuss taste with 'common' minds. Aside from collecting masterpieces worldwide, you might as well want to collect connections with people who have similar wavelength as your thinking. Open conversations with people with passions like yours are the healthiest kind of dialogue.



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fulstaf
Connect with like minded people, I could've done that, but I don't want to become a member of any groups, sects, or clubs, I ant to include the common as well, I don't know how to do that, as of yet.



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felabruno
You can discuss what you like if you keep your mind open. Some people have closed minds and they can't understand other can prefer different things. With people like that you can't discuss tastes but if they would only try to see your point of view you could have a normal conversation.



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Pixie06
We all don't have the same tastes and preferences. It is equally true that taste changes with time. I can take some examples on myself. There are certain things which I used to like in the past but nowadays I have preferences for other things. Tastes cannot be discussed with everyone like you said. Some people will always find negativity in everything that you say.



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Nikko25
Why not? As long as it's in the right place at the right time and with the right people, I don't see any harm in discussing tastes and preferences. Sure, we might not always agree or see eye to eye on many things but that's part of the joys of discussing the said subject. Whether they be good or bad, you get to see and understand things from other people's perspectives and perhaps learn new ways to enjoy and appreciate the things you discuss about.



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onlineblogger
Haha! Very well said. Why not? It's our prerogative to voice out our opinions, suggestions and the like. If other people don't like what you love, then so be it. They're not you. Do whatever you want, say what's on your mind and be happy. Don't let other people affect your preferences in life. They have their own and have them take care of their own business.



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Barida
As an economist, I know that taste is one of the most determining factors that can contribute to which of the competing products that a consumer will decide to go for in the market. With the range of closely related goods, aside from finance, taste is another factor that may make a consumer decides to go for one product and leave the other for he/she has formed the habit of taking that particular product over a period of time that he does not want to try other closely related products. So, taste is core in consumer decision-making.



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fulstaf
I have completely forget about that, Thank you for pointing that out, art and money always go hand in hand.



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tenthztar
Yes you can, You can always discuss it with someone who can relate to it. Discussing taste with a stranger with a different mind set could be disastrous.



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Blank629
Taste can be discussed of course! Even we have different taste in all aspects, we communicate in knowing one's understanding. We must understand why other people have the same taste in one thing but the others are not but having a taste in a different thing.



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tophew
I think it depends what kind of thing that what you want to discussed about tasted but there are somethings that we cannot discuss about taste in a certain thing. like for me i don't want to listen to anyone that they want me to listen to them about songs rock and we discussed about my taste to change in to rock from acoustic sweet songs i argue with them that i love acoustic sweet songs and that cannot be change.



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DenisP
You know this is a pretty thought provoking question. I think that in some sense, yes, taste can be discussed. I suppose that is in the sense where you can share your opinion and describe why a work of art is a masterpiece to you. But when it comes to art, I think it is definitely at least 80% opinion based. Sure when it comes to certain types of paintings and drawings, you can analyze them from a technical perspective and critique the artist's techniques, but who are you to say that the artist didn't intentionally paint things one way or another? Unless the artist himself tells you "I was trying to draw this like that" and you can establish whether they succeeded or failed in utilizing the proper technique, it is all up to opinion.



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jaymish
Taste can be discussed yes, in terms of justification and explanation, but I don't think it can be critiqued. You can't, for example, criticize me for liking abstract art, which to some is just ugly. For example, i like African art and I don't necessarily understand modern art. I don't think you can criticize me for it because it is based on my personality, which is determined primarily by my experiences.

As everyone has different experiences, it follows they will have different personalities. I can certainly explain to you why I like certain things, but I can't force you to see things from my point of view.No one's point of view is the correct point of view, it just is a point of view.



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diels1001
Basically anything can be discussed. It is a matter of being objective. It is really possible since one can discuss the idea of pain without feeling it just like you can discuss your preference to anyone and they can interpret this. By doing so, you can have a better understanding of how important the thought of other people in making your decisions.



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PedroP
Difficult. Taste is one of those discussions that lead nowhere much like politics, religion and which sports team is the best. It's just better to accept different points of view rather than trying to change people



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