Reply #3: Sometimes ...

[RoyGBiv]

I'll get into a debate with anyone about why I think something is good or not good, and I think this is fine if it's a thoughtful discussion. That pretty much means you have to accept that you shouldn't be trying to convince someone to agree with your viewpoint about why this or that piece of art is good, rather explain why you feel it is good in the hopes of allowing others to see something they might not have seen, ultimately to understand you. You also have to accept that the other people involved are doing the same thing. We tend to identify with the artistic expressions of others for personal reasons, and in discussions about that art, we're really asking other people to accept us for who we are just as much as the art with which we identify. Nothing is wrong with this.

However ...

One of the worst insults ever thrown at me on DU was about a film I like. The discussion (well, not that it was much of a discussion) that ensued was a bizarre example of "taking it too seriously."