Excellent points. So let me get this straight. You are saying, let's not ask: "Am I being objective or subjective? Is this bad art or good art?" Let's say what's good and not so good, back up our opinions with thoughtful information about literature or art, and invite a response. Is that it?
I'm saying "let's not take a vital discussion and back it up to meaningless abstractions to the point where it can contain both '50Shades is objectively crap' and 'I suspect that even objectivity is to an extent subjective - but the scientists might disagree.'" "What is art and why?" is broad. "Is contemporary art 'art'?" is broad. Any framing of the discussion that allows someone to strawman up a harlequin romance into making a point that encompasses Picasso and Renoir isn't raising the tenor of the discussion, it's lowering it.
Agreed While I still maintain that the OP has a right to ask his original question, there are much better questions like, "Whose opinion of art, film, whatever, is worth paying attention to?" The NYT Book Review article posted here addresses that. I ignore a lot of #askhubski questions for many reasons: time, do I want to engage?, etc. But probably mostly because it might not be the best question for the situation under discussion. Thanks for that insight. Every question contains several underlying assumptions that turn the question one way or another. I think what you've pointed out is that the "fucking question" you referred to is one of those - and there are better questions. Thanks kb.