Allan Bloom, in his 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind, argued that listening to rock music destroyed a young person's ability to appreciate high culture. Could it also be true that an appreciation of high culture destroys a person's ability to appreciate popular culture?
Eh? And double-eh? No, and no again. I'm going to forego the Beach Boys so as to preserve my ability to appreciate Bach, dump the Marx Brothers on account of Shakespeare, give up Jane Austen or Henry James because otherwise I won't 'get' George Jones or Lyle Lovett? It's like being asked to enjoy either whisky or an English breakfast, when it's manifestly possible to do both.
