Seems like the source of our disagreement is that you implicitly view ideas as reified essences, as independent entities; whereas I view them as sites of contestation, definitionally tied to a certain perspective that puts down a stake contra other perspectives.

I indeed don't particularly care for the term "pretentious" - the perspectives it's tied to are usually not ones I'm impressed with.

As opposed to Zappa. What a talent.

I'm a Beefheart guy, not a Zappa guy, but there's so much to admire about Frank. My "unpopular opinion" about him would be that his very finest hour was his very last release, the orchestral Yellow Shark.

I prefer The Perfect Stranger but I agree on his orchestral works being his best.

Yeah that's definitely one of his masterpieces.

Mindfulness might be the one exception. He seems like a wonderfully eccentric dude but I wouldn't call him a nerd.

He collects and sells cards. :/

The point that seems perpetually lost on Terrapin and probably Mucha is it's not Crew Slut. It's every song that features women in any capacity. It's in the bovine perspiration of Dynah Moe-Humm and in the tiny mustaches of the Catholic Girls. Frank seems to want them sexually (only), but at the same time can't help shaming them in some derogatory way. It's not a deal-breaker for me, but the big picture is certainly a misogynist one.

Who would think a rock star from the 60s with song titles like Easy Meat and Crew Slut would be misogynist? Controversial, I know.

If you're locked into your position or simply don't agree, that's fine. We don't have to agree.

"Critical" doesn't mean "negative." It implies analysis.

I don't usually agree to disagree though. I want you to not be wrong, to not have unsupportable misconceptions, etc.

It's dumb as a criticism because of how the term is conventionally defined: "attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed."

??

A conceptual "site" where stuff be contested?

I thought that it's one of my many calques from French and while it is that too, a Google search in English turns up "about 136,000 results" and in quite a few of those, "sites" refers not to physical but conceptual spaces.

"The sessions will feature a multi-faceted reflection on the ways in which the liberal arts become sites of contestation and sources of consolation in times of historical crisis." - you get the idea.

The larger framework is of course Nietzsche as read by Deleuze and Foucault.

I'm not at all a fan of continentalism, and I'm a physicalist, so . . . lol

Concepts are physical things in particular brains in my view.

You can probably imagine that as a Zappa fan, I've had this discussion before. Both with other people and in my own brain for a long time. I've been on your side of the discussion for years and years.

Learning more about misogyny and becoming more aware of it is an important part of what's brought me to my current position on the issue. I believe I see something that you're probably blind to and discussing here isn't likely to change that.

Maybe you should ask your wife about it.

Where did I say that criticism and negativity are the same? I simply said you were being uncritical.