From The Inbox

In response to a calculatedly snarky comment I left in the comments section of this earnest and serious-minded post by blogger Alex of Wellsung, which comment read:

You're far too kind — and paying far too much serious attention — to Mr. Sandow, just another typical hanger-on to the hypocritical '60s equalitarian, anti-intellectual, do-your-own-thing mentality, trying desperately to justify his insatiable '60s-"revolutionary" appetite for and devotion to populist trash — the mother's milk of that generation — by attempting to place it on the same footing, and in the same league, with genuine art. There are but two ways to deal with this type: ignore them, or ridicule them — briefly.

reader N.R. eMails me (reprinted here with permission):

I just read your comment on Wellsung regarding Alex's [i.e., Alex of Wellsung] critical post about Greg Sandow's views on pop culture and the crisis in classical music, and it's of course in line with a number of posts on your blog which have had nothing but nasty things to say about Sandow and his ideas. What puzzles me is that your hero, music critic Alex Ross of the New Yorker, for who[m] I've seen nothing on your blog but the highest praise, often takes the same position in his writings concerning pop culture and the crisis in classical music as does Greg Sandow. How is it that you have nothing nasty to say about Alex Ross taking the position he does, but lambaste Greg Sandow for taking the same position?

An entirely fair question. And the answer is, I forgive and disregard Alex Ross's wrongheadedness concerning his occasional championship of things pop cultural in the same way and for the same reason I forgive and disregard Richard Wagner's lunatic anti-Semitism: the nonpareil excellence and importance of their best work.

I trust that answer resolves fully your perplexity in this matter.