Cilantro and Freedom
In a blog posting about his new Serenity movie, Buffy creator Joss Whedon writes:
But no matter how much I suffer for my art, it's worth it. 'Cause come April 22nd I think we'll be bringing you an exciting film that's a powerful statement about the right to be free. Which is not as cool as my original statement about the right to tasty garlic mussels in a cilantro broth, but the freedom thing's okay too.
It's a joke, of course, but a particularly apt one: the right to eat disgusting food like garlic mussels in a cilantro broth is a sign of freedom--and so is the right to say Joss's favorite spice tastes horrible. (He ended the post with "Cilantro!") One of the great powers of markets is allowing different tastes to coexist. Here's a related paragraph from the afterword (a.k.a. "About the Book") of the paperback edition of The Substance of Style:
Aesthetics isn't like mathematics or physics. It's like food. Food critics can talk meaningfully about better or worse cuisine. Chefs can analyze recipes to figure out why certain combinations of ingredients produce certain effects. But no amount of analysis and argument will make me like cilantro or the first President Bush like broccoli. Those are personal, subjective judgments. Even critics must ultimately base their culinary assessments on experience, not first principles. The diner, not the cook, is the ultimate arbiter of what works.
Thanks to Todd Seavey for the Whedon quote.