Drury 338: "The theory of radical contingency is a useful toothbrush. Exploring how deeply dependent most artistic forms are on received, unquestioned values helps one see the work freshly and clearly. [...] Unfortunately, in its sweeping refusal to recognize the possibility of quality not dependent on socio-economic stakes, radical contingency throws the baby out with the bath water."
339: "Attributing all possible definitions of quality to socio-economic forces is a dead end. After clearing away unthinking assumptions, it tells us nothing about what remains, which is our true, personal, aesthetic response to art"
Drury 337: "Forced to defend John Zorn's Leng Tch'e to a symphony musician who doesn't like loud guitars and drums, I can use the tools of radical contingency to break down (or at least hold up to light) his class prejudices. But then I need tools of real analysis if I am successfully to invite him to listen to the thing or if I am to explain why I find it more worthy of attention that the Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto"
338: "any criticism which is afraid to say 'this is good, this is quality' is ultimately a worthless, cowardly cop-out"