It's good to have a hobby. They keep our minds sharp and give us something to talk about at parties. Some people are so good at their hobbies that they are able to monetize them and make their hobby a profession. But, just as often, people let their passions get the best of them. They go from talking about their hobbies with other like-minded individuals to spouting unsolicited facts at anyone in shouting range. There is a fine line between being geeky and being a snob, and you may not know you have crossed it until it is too late.
One of the most snob-filled areas of expertise has got to be wine. Now, I am not opposed to discussing proper decanting methods or calculating degrees Brix with someone who knows what they are talking about, but few other hobbies can so quickly lead to snobbery than trying to become a wine expert. It is far too easy to turn your wine knowledge into a weapon. And a large part of the cult of wine snobs is fear. This is true of any cult, I suppose. Fear is a tool that is used to keep people in line. In the wine world, the fear comes from not wanting to seem uneducated. Wine is the drink of the elite, after all, and some people fear that they may be too pedestrian to drink it. Maybe their palate isn't refined enough, and if they say the wrong thing everyone around them will know the truth. And wine snobs feed on this uncertainty. It's this culture of fear that has allowed these bullshitters to thrive for so long.
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June 2016
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