The End of Subjective Universality and the Privatization of Aesthetic Taste (opens in new tab)

In 2026, any take that uncritically treats “pop” as the low or mass culture term in a high/low or art/craft binary is a red herring designed to divert attention away from the fact that the political ontology that makes that aesthetic binary possible is obsolete. Structured by political and fiscal privatization, algorithmic personalization, and the like, present reality in so-called Western liberal democracies no longer reflects the enlightenment public/private binary that has long shaped West...