The Art Elite Problem

         So once upon a time I was listening to an excerpt from a Klingon opera (as you do) and got curious to see if anyone in the comment section had cared to put up some translations. Turns out that someone in the comments had the same idea as me, but she asked for them.
         They got one response.
         "Why don't you just learn the language."

         (I went back to try finding the exact conversation and I think I did, but there were a ton of people who came to that person's defense, so the knave in question deleted his comment.)

        Now, it may have been that the response was meant to encourage the other individual, but in the context and attitude, it doesn't come off that way at all.

        This frustrates me so much. Art is one of the few things in the world that can be easily shared. Not everyone can learn how to ride a bike through the internet, but we can learn how to paint, sing, dance, or speak a new language (this current quarantine state is a great time for it!) but what's the good of that if we who know how to do the things are condescending and outright hostile to those who don't?

        This is a problem that I've realized I had with some of my older posts, thus some of them are missing and will be rewritten (or not) but how do we address the problem? How do we keep from slipping into that mindset?

        After mulling it over for a bit, I came up with this list of ideas. There are probably a lot more out there to help, but this is just what I could come up with on the spot.

        1. Don't punish the behavior you want to see. 
        (This could really be applied to anything in life, actually...)

        2. Don't scorn those who are as inexperienced as you once were.
        Don't pretend that you never sounded awful when you started playing an instrument. Smile and applaud the kids who are in their first concert, no matter if your ears are bleeding. They're doing their best.

        3. Recognize that some things are just generally -- be it due to history, location, or technology -- not as well-known as others, and be patient with teaching those who want to learn (see #1.)

          This is my favorite example of this:

"I don't think you're inherently a racist if you don't know how to color black skin. You probably just haven't practiced it enough!"

   This makes me so happy. Let's face it, for a lot of us, we didn't grow up with superheroes or princesses other than White™ until War Machine, Falcon, Tiana, Esmeralda, Kida, Jasmine and Black Panther came along. (Plus, 3 out of those 4 princesses were sexualized quite a bit, so even if we saw them we weren't allowed to draw them.)

    Peachdeluxe, wherever you are, thank you. Thank you so much.

    Sincerely, a white artist who's trying really hard and prone to anxious over-thinking.

         4. Explain things to people who are trying to follow along.

            If you're a violinist who's talking about a really hard piece and you're ranting about 'all those double-stops!' but you don't stop to explain what a double-stop is to an inexperienced listener, they're just going to get confused and your words will have no meaning.

         5. Be the person you needed when you were younger.

         Not much to explain there.

         6. Remember Ratatouille!