/ot/ - off-topic

Is appreciation of the higher arts, for example the classics, forever closed off to those who are incapable of self reflection?

I ask this because I've noticed that the terrible people in this world, terrible in the sense of lack of empathy or poor self control, all enjoy media aimed at the level of a young teenager. Either that or media that appeals viscerally to the senses such as violent or pornographic works. I am not talking about the intellectually impaired here, who lack the other faculty necessary to enjoy the higher arts, but those with the intelligence necessary to enjoy higher art but do not. Also not included are those that for reasons of taste and preference of things other than art and media, such as sport, consume little media at all. What is included are those who are able to consume the higher arts, but instead consume the inferior art and media tailored to children.

It all clicked for me when I tried online dating and encountered some terrible people. One woman in particular, who admitted right off the bat to either having anti-social personality disorder or borderline personality disorder, would only talk about such media as Harry Potter or Sherlock.

The part of the brain that is responsible for empathy, healthy self reflection and a proper temperament is most likely also the part of the brain that is necessary to enjoy the better arts. And that the mark of an ethically reprobate person is a person who possess the intellectual capacity to enjoy the higher arts but chooses the childish. I am not also talking about those who for nostalgia occasionally return to the childish works they consumed as a child, I do this occasionally, but there we are setting out to enjoy the nostalgia, the media here is just by necessity attached and most be consumed as well.

I see the tumblr fandoms as another place where the contingency between adults remaining with childish media and being a reprobate.