Thumbs Down to Thumbs Down

What has Simon and Garfunkel's single, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Julie Andrews singing the opening song of The Sound of Music and Dvořák's Cello Concerto, performed by Jacqueline du Pré and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim, got in common? The answer is that they are 20th century treasures: they stand apart as icons, like Michelangelo's David or the Great Pyramid. "Nah, I think David would look better dressed, or sitting:👎👎👎 And so, on YouTube, the first had almost 5,000 thumbs down, the other two, a few hundred each! If one does not like or understand a particular style of music or film genre, one ought to move on gracefully; why try to demean it with a thumbs down? The Cello Concerto combined four of the greatest musical forces and still, it managed to score a few hundred thumbs down. Was it perhaps that the film was in black and white? Jacqueline's dress? Barenboim's haircut? Or was that it one of the strings broke halfway through? I may not like the moon, but if I meant to disparage it, a thumbs down would be ridiculous, because the moon is what it is and to register my disapproval I would need more than an emoji, which would only serve to highlight my stupidity. 

I am not saying that a person has to approve of everything that the majority likes. One may go to see a film that is all the rave, for instance, and end up finding it a huge disappointment. I remember feeling like that after having seen La La Land, which would certainly received a 👎 from me. I am talking about masterpieces that have withstood the test of time and speak for themselves. YouTube is full of outstanding works that have been snubbed with hundreds or thousands of thumbs down that reveal absolutely nothing, other than, perhaps, the unrefined tastes of thousands of people. So, when a clip is genuinely bad, say because it is a poor copy, or it finishes too abruptly, it is impossible to know, because too many people use the negative ideogram as just a "Nah, I don't like it." So why bother having the thumbs down at all? The ratio between thumbs up and the number of views is probably a safer indication of the quality of the clip. Of course, removing the thumbs down would deprive thousands or millions of people the satisfaction of putting up a middle finger to a great artist. Good, let it!