3 ms·
A simple answer is that people are fascinated by the grotesque whereas wholesome stuff is just blah. 50 Shades of Grey is an perfectly mediocre novel, but will
by distant_hat 3y ago
A simple answer is that people are fascinated by the grotesque whereas wholesome stuff is just blah. 50 Shades of Grey is an perfectly mediocre novel, but will sell many tens of multiples of critically acclaimed books.
- eternalban 3y agoSure, but this stuff is pushed from on high not down below. Sade is promoted and held up as something (not sure precisely what) important. So the simple rebut is that the pseudo intellectual classes always poo poo what appeals to the common man. But they love this stuff, and, the common people do not like it. That’s really the only thing that is interesting about de Sade and his fan club: the curious inversion. & p.s. my personal sense is that de Sade legitimizes oppression as natural pleasure and that’s what makes him the court philosopher of the modern elite.
- cubefox 3y agoWhen I read "the modern elite" ... like who? Elon Musk? Joe Biden? NYT journalists?
- eternalban 3y ago> elon musk that's funny in a sad way. no, the post-enlightenment post-rationalist elite, the 'modern age'.
- Centigonal 3y agoI mean, this does exist: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/214636339474345984 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/214636339474345984 And this: https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc/c/M2PJ98_RwlQ/m/F3SvF12DStYJ https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc/c/... Safe to say Elon has some affinity for De Sade.
- cubefox 3y agoThat's funny. (For some reason the Twitter picture doesn't load anymore, but there are screenshots via Google.) I admit, he may have read some de Sade.
- voldacar 3y agoIt's a form of potlach. Same reason why the elite class promotes ugly architecture and "fashion" that nobody wears.
- eternalban 3y agoI know what you're talking about however in this case there appears to be genuine affection from those quarters. A kindered soul, as it were.