The mass market does not demand good art. If you want good art, it must be funded by aristocratic patronage, because commoners have shit taste. Literally churlish, boorish, taste, in fact. Often downright villainous. The term [potboiler] isn't some solecism.
Truth cannot be profitably sold because demand is low. Commoners have no taste for truth. The mass market will always offer primarily delusion. If you want truth it must be funded by aristocratic patronage. E.g. someone who is so wealthy they can afford to produce truth and give it away for free.
Recently I understood Yarvins theory of the cathedral deeper. Basically the whole system of selling knowledge for money does not work, because you cannot sell people knowledge they already know. So in those fields of knowledge that are already pretty well figured out, e.g. because they are simple, the only way to sell knowledge is to sell lies.
ReplyDeleteE.g. you simply cannot make money on the idea that the primary way to fight crime is to increase punishments. Hence criminologists lie about "addressing the social causes of crime".