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Oldprof
Guest
ywenz said:
Not necessarily. There are quite a few millionaires who drive old, beater cars. And a lot of people who engage in conspicuous consumption are mortgaged up to their ears.
Does quality beget snobbery?
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Not necessarily. There are quite a few millionaires who drive old, beater cars. And a lot of people who engage in conspicuous consumption are mortgaged up to their ears.
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varjag
Guest
Now, if they do make superior use of inferior equipment, are they really snobs? 😀Nick R. said:
To me, a snob is someone who pretends to be better than he really is based on some false merit. But I agree that quality or price of camera equipment is not a prerequisite at all in photography: we see tons of film snobs, digital snobs, large format snobs, ad infinitum.
Finder
Veteran
ywenz said:
Or having superior debt.
Finder
Veteran
I don't know why the little people get in a huff and use the term "snob" when we of the elite condescend to try to give them a little guidance in the proper way to live their petty lives. I buy the best because I am the best, not because I am a snob.
Fedzilla_Bob
man with cat
Little people? Petty Lives?Finder said:
Wow.
back alley
IMAGES
Toby said:
i agree wholeheartedly!!
joe
ywenz
Veteran
Finder said:
AHAHAH awsome, shooting from the hips. I like that!
jano
Evil Bokeh
Wayne R. Scott said:
I don't like that quote because it signals out the "finer" snob. Like George said, it works the other way, too. I've seen far more "snobs" to the "lower quality" things in life than I have to the "finer" things of life. This imbalance causes a misperception that there are more of these "quality" snobs (the majority looking down at the minority make it appear as if the minority were actualy a majority).
Wayne R. Scott said:
And this above is exactly what it boils dwn to: attitude. It is possible to appreciate the "finer" (or non-finer) things in life without being a snob.
Real life example: My friends all call me a "snob" because I drive a nice car, I have a nice watch (breitling, sorry, not a rolex), I went to a good university, I like to eat expensive foods, etc. I don't flaunt any of this, in fact, when in the company of these friends, we're often talking about their super stereo systems, souped up cars, big screen tv's, etc. I often have a sincere level of admiration for their things, too. Yet I'm the snob, as they will poke fun at my choice in designers, cameras, watches, cars, etc etc.
So perhaps the perception of snobery also stems from a bit of jealousy. 😛 Or maybe the title just stuck when I told them I'd rather go to Barcelona.
😀
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Magnus
Guest
....
snob |snäb| noun a person with an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth who seeks to associate with social superiors and dislikes people or activities regarded as lower-class. • [with adj. ] a person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are superior to those of other people : a musical snob. DERIVATIVES snobbery |-b?r?| noun ( pl. -beries) snobbism |-?biz?m| noun snobby adjective ( -bier , -biest ).ORIGIN late 18th cent.(originally dialect in the sense [cobbler] ): of unknown origin; early senses conveyed a notion of ‘lower status or rank,’ later denoting a person seeking to imitate those of superior social standing or wealth. Folk etymology connects the word with Latin sine nobilitate ‘without nobility’ but the earliest recorded sense has no connection with this.
snob |snäb| noun a person with an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth who seeks to associate with social superiors and dislikes people or activities regarded as lower-class. • [with adj. ] a person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are superior to those of other people : a musical snob. DERIVATIVES snobbery |-b?r?| noun ( pl. -beries) snobbism |-?biz?m| noun snobby adjective ( -bier , -biest ).ORIGIN late 18th cent.(originally dialect in the sense [cobbler] ): of unknown origin; early senses conveyed a notion of ‘lower status or rank,’ later denoting a person seeking to imitate those of superior social standing or wealth. Folk etymology connects the word with Latin sine nobilitate ‘without nobility’ but the earliest recorded sense has no connection with this.
M
Magnus
Guest
.... I would say one can find traces of snobbery amongst photographers .....
jaapv
RFF Sponsoring Member.
What's wrong with snobbery
The answer to the thread title is simply: YES!!
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pesphoto
Veteran
I think for most of us here, if we could afford a new Leica or whatever may be we might be all over it. So for anyone who can afford it and does we say congrats, enjoy, use it well. In my opinion it has nothing to do with snobbery. Though I would say there is always going to be an indivdual or two who seem snobbish, not here necessarily. Just in general.
I find most here enjoy sharing their experiences with their equipment and helping and encouraging others, no matter what mechanical device they use (can afford).
I find most here enjoy sharing their experiences with their equipment and helping and encouraging others, no matter what mechanical device they use (can afford).
Kim Coxon
Moderator
IMHO, it is not the equipment that makes a "snob", it is the mindset. If you purchase something for the pleasure that it gives you, it doesn't make you a snob. You don't even have to use it, if this were the case all "collectors" would be snobs. If you purchase something purely for the effect it will have on others and if you deride others who do not have one, then you could be called a snob.
Kim
Kim
John Camp
Well-known
To be a snob is essentially to be intolerant, and you can find it all over the wealth/intelligence spectrum. A guy who shoots a Brownie when he could afford a Nikon, not because he likes the photos but to demonstrate his solidarity with the working class, is a snob. A guy who figures out that a Toyota is better than a Benz on a price/quality scale, and better than a Yugo on a on a safety/quality scale, and so buys a Toyota, is not being a snob, he's using his brain. Using your brain does not qualiy you as a snob; although some smart people are snobs. In my opinion, there are quite a few film snobs on this forum -- people who are simply intolerant of digital, and won't hear arguments for it. But it's a minor form of snobbery, and tweaking the film snobs is a minor, but enjoyable, sport.
Fedzilla_Bob
man with cat
ywenz said:
Is it hips that he's shooting from? Or is he shooting bull...
To declare oneself as the best and others as "little people" is the very height of snobbery. A true elitist wouldn't have a such a blatant need to flaunt it.
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varjag
Guest
I think Finder was fairly obviously sarcastic 🙂
ywenz
Veteran
Fedzilla_Bob said:
THen wouldn't you say that his comment was true to the subject of the thread? Why would you only want one viewpoint?
ywenz
Veteran
Kim Coxon said:
What if you buy something for the effect it has on others, which in turn gives you pleasure? Where in the snob-o-meter would this person fall?
Fedzilla_Bob
man with cat
I'm not seeking a single viewpoint, just calling attention to the elephant on the table- I present the following...
QUOTATION: Snobbery is not the same thing as pride of class. Pride of class may not please us but we must at least grant that it reflects a social function. A man who exhibited class pride—in the day when it was possible to do so—may have been puffed up about what he was, but this ultimately depended on what he did. Thus, aristocratic pride was based ultimately on the ability to fight and administer. No pride is without fault, but pride of class may be thought of as today we think of pride of profession, toward which we are likely to be lenient. Snobbery is pride in status without pride in function. And it is an uneasy pride of status. It always asks, “Do I belong—do I really belong? And does he belong? And if I am observed talking to him, will it make me seem to belong or not to belong?” It is the peculiar vice not of aristocratic societies which have their own appropriate vices, but of bourgeois democratic societies.
ATTRIBUTION: Lionel Trilling (1905–1975), U.S. critic, educator. “Manners, Morals, and the Novel,” The Liberal Imagination: Essays on Literature and Society, Viking (1950).
The last bit about self validation is more to the point.
Thank you
QUOTATION: Snobbery is not the same thing as pride of class. Pride of class may not please us but we must at least grant that it reflects a social function. A man who exhibited class pride—in the day when it was possible to do so—may have been puffed up about what he was, but this ultimately depended on what he did. Thus, aristocratic pride was based ultimately on the ability to fight and administer. No pride is without fault, but pride of class may be thought of as today we think of pride of profession, toward which we are likely to be lenient. Snobbery is pride in status without pride in function. And it is an uneasy pride of status. It always asks, “Do I belong—do I really belong? And does he belong? And if I am observed talking to him, will it make me seem to belong or not to belong?” It is the peculiar vice not of aristocratic societies which have their own appropriate vices, but of bourgeois democratic societies.
ATTRIBUTION: Lionel Trilling (1905–1975), U.S. critic, educator. “Manners, Morals, and the Novel,” The Liberal Imagination: Essays on Literature and Society, Viking (1950).
The last bit about self validation is more to the point.
Thank you
Fedzilla_Bob
man with cat
Wait...ywenz said:
Isn't one of the benefits of open discourse and debate about building consensus?
Or are we in in bizzaro world?
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