The Prestige of a Brand is An Historical Assertion

Once Established, It Often Goes to Pot

Hershey Kisses sure don’t taste like they used to, when they were less sweet and more chocolate-y. Brands debase themselves over time, because they don’t have to fight like a champ to stay on the shelf. Like the Ivy League.

My home-made chocolate is less sweet and more chocolate-y and CHEAPER than Hershey Kisses. Photograph by the Author. Copyright 2023 Richard Kuslan All Rights Reserved

Recently, I participated in a literary discussion on Substack.  My interlocutors wrote learned, literate essays and comments on fiction and poetry.  Who they were and what we discussed is immaterial to this brief essay: because the problem is widespread. 

I am more concerned about the reliance upon prestige.  This reliance gives the benefit of the doubt to, or even affords the wholesale uncritical reception of, ideas, based upon the elevated name of the writer or scholar; the reputational caliber of the institution giving its imprimatur to his work; and the general “wisdom” of received public approbation, usually issuing from similarly situated academics at those institutions.

Reliance upon prestige gives rise to a species of uncritical criticism. When a bubble forms around a coterie of ideas, adherents who live off of its benefits naturally give in. Inside mavericks were once tolerated fifty years ago – when the Leftists espoused the “marketplace of ideas” prior to taking control of the endowments -- but no longer.  Those (should I say, “those of us?” since I am one) trained within those institutions, but who live and think outside of these bubbles, and see them for what they are, are perfectly placed to burst them. But one must see the bubble — usually only when one is already passing through the membrane to the outside world.

The works of those who stand upon the ivory pedestal must be made subject to the same penetrating, questioning skepticism as that of anyone else – in some cases, more so.  Always question the hypothesis, the evidence and the conclusion.  Do not give them the benefit of the doubt.  Apply rigorous skepticism.  Make them earn their reputations once again.  That is real scholarship and its purpose is a kind of grail search, that is, the discovery of LUX ET VERITAS.