There must be something good in a thing that pleases so many; even if it cannot be explained it is certainly enjoyed. Singularity is always hated, and, when in the wrong, laughed at. You simply destroy respect for your taste rather than do harm to the object of your blame... If you cannot find the good in a thing, hide your incapacity and do not damn it straightway...
Baltasar Gracián, 1647 (tr. Joseph Jacobs, 1892)
When something pleases a great many people, the safe bet is that there is something genuinely good in it, even if you personally cannot see or explain what. Standing alone to condemn the widely enjoyed is a risky posture: singularity is disliked, and a lone dissenter who turns out to be wrong is laughed at, having damaged only his own standing while leaving the popular thing untouched. Your public verdict against what everyone enjoys tends to convict your taste, not the object. So if you cannot find the merit in something broadly loved, the prudent move is to withhold the sweeping condemnation and keep the gap in your appreciation to yourself, because bad taste usually springs from a lack of understanding. What most people affirm generally has something real behind it, and betting against all of them alone is rarely the winning position.
Practice
- Assume there is something real in what pleases many; if you cannot see it, suspect your own understanding before the crowd's taste (maxim 209 warns about the universal follies too, so weigh both).
- Withhold the lone sweeping condemnation of the popular; you convict your own taste more than the thing you are damning.
- If you cannot find the good in something widely loved, keep the gap to yourself rather than broadcasting it as a verdict.
Use this when
- Use this before publicly dismissing something broadly enjoyed; the solo negative verdict usually costs the critic, not the object.
- Use it as a check on your own taste; broad appeal is evidence worth weighing against your private dislike.
Ignore this when
- Don't surrender genuine, informed judgment to popularity; sometimes the crowd is wrong, and this is caution about the lone reflexive sneer, not all dissent (maxim 245 values the honest contradiction).
- Don't stay silent when you have real grounds and standing to dissent; the rule targets the unexplained solo condemnation, not reasoned critique.
A picture of it
Certain that a wildly popular product is overrated, a designer makes a point of condemning it loudly and alone, sure his refined taste sees what the crowd misses. Over time the product's success only grows, and what his solo verdict actually damaged was respect for his own judgment, which colleagues downgrade as out of touch. The thing that pleased so many had something real in it that he could not see, and betting against all of them in public convicted his taste, not theirs. Had he kept the private dislike private, or looked harder for the merit others found, he would have kept the standing his singularity spent.
What pleases everyone usually has something in it. Condemn it alone and you mostly convict your own taste; look again before you damn it.