(Excerpts from Kitsch, translated from Italian, written by Gillo Dorfles.)

“There is a well-known distinction between the various artistic levels of low-brow, high-brow or… the mid-cult, which indicates that kind of half-way culture, that mediocrity which is probably the most widespread of all, providing the artistic nourishment of the masses.” (p. 14)The idea of ‘Kitschmensch’, or ‘kitsch-man’, “refers to the ‘man of bad taste’, i.e. the way in which a person of bad taste looks at, enjoys, and acts when confronted with a work of art (either good or bad). What proportion of modern mankind could be included in the ranks of kitsch-men? Almost certainly a very high percentage, though perhaps a smaller one than one would think.” (p. 14)

“It has often been proved (although we do not, and would not, need proof) that the average man, the man without prejudices, unaffected by the bug of ‘mid-culture’ and, above all, confronted by works of art continuously and patiently, will soon not only understand them, but also love them. There are endless instances of simple people – technicians, craftsmen, electrical workers, individuals involved in some of the new technological sciences—who have become fans of electronic music composers, kinetic artists and operators of programmed art just by meeting them; almost any modern artist could quote some such example. This would show how a great deal of the lack of understanding of modern art is undoubtedly due to lack of education and habit.
“Quite different is the case of the kitsch-man and of that sector of the public whose attitude towards works of art is definitely and hopelessly wrong. It is usually a matter of deliberate obtuseness which concerns modern art alone, or possibly ‘difficult’ art of the past i.e. the most serious type of work; it is a problem of individuals who believe that art should only produce pleasant, sugary feeling; or even that art should form a kind of ‘condiment,’ a kind of ‘background music’, a decoration… in no case should it be a serious matter, a tiring exercise, an involved and critical activity…” (14-16)

“This is the central and most important factori in the identification of kitsch, not only musical kitsch but also literary, cinematographic and even ‘naturalistic’ kitsch: the attitude of the individual when confronted with artistic and natural phenomena, which are observed from that particular point of view which immediately transforms them into something inferior, false, sentimental and no longer genuine.” (29)

“Easy (if not inferior) reproduction and the quick distribution of art (or pseudo-art) objects has made it possible for… the problem of cultural industrialization;… Mass-culture…has killed all ability to distinguish between art and life; all trace for a ‘rite’ in the handing out of cultural and aesthetic nourishment by the mass media (radio, TV, magazines, cinema) has been lost, and this lack of the ritual element has brought about an indifference in the onlooker when he is faced with the different kinds of transmissions and manifestations which are forced upon him.” (29-30)

Gillo Dorfles, Kitsch: An anthology of bad taste, Mazzotta publishers, Milan, 1968;
Translation 1969, Studio Vista Limited, London, UK.

P.S. It feels nice to realize I’m not the only one who thinks the way I do. It feels nice to realize I have friends on my page. It feels nice to realize that there are people who understand and digest things like I do, different but the same.
(Sincerity is meaning what you say, and Honesty is saying what you mean. This makes them different but the same.)