Is it what we like or what we are like?

It absolutely fine to judge someone based on the stuff that they are into. Yeah, preconceptions can be dangerous and misused, but if meeting someone new, it's a sure-fire litmus test on personality to compare favorite movies, shows, bands, and writers.

We are drawn to what we like for several reasons, and each one is consistent with the nature vs. nurture jigsaw puzzle that is at the core of all self discovery. I like to think that our tastes for culture are chizled into our persona before we are even exposed to them.

As a kid flipping through late night television, I surfed through the old movies, music videos, and cartoons, and stumbled onto a huge influence, the recently deceased, George Carlin. Why?


Was it his uninhibited use of 'offensive' language? The goofy faces he could make? Yeah, but what really got me was this guy's obvious love and fascination with language and how it is used in our culture. Listen to his routines on Baseball vs. Football or the classic Advertising Lullaby, and you'll see what I mean.



And you know what? I don't believe that I've ever met someone that I didn't like who loved George for the same reason. Now, those that are offended by his remarks on morals, children, sex, and religion? Those that can't enjoy the humor in his honesty, I usually sense a rift between us.



Of course, it's not all rooted in our DNA. A lot can be said for finding empathetic voices after going through experiences. Maybe that's why blues musicians are so adamant about someone knowing the blues before hearing the blues. And, I agree with them. If you haven't got the soul and sensitivity to feel something in your life, then you probably don't start tapping you toe and howling when you hear a 'dun da dun da dun' riff from a gutiar and bass.




I don't advocate any means of blatant discrimination. Like all things in life, culture and the moods and feelings within those cultures can always take some acquaintance to taste. Some people just haven't been taught what to appreciate about a genre. I try to find substance in anything I hear. I'm not saying that it exists in everything, but I at least give it a chance. In just this way, people and their tastes can be gauged. If you find someone that likes nothing that you do, even after understanding it's purpose, then that person and you better start to be and let be, because it most likely won't get too deep.