If you’re been around the internet for long, you’ll likely know of the r/ATBGE, or Awful Taste But Great Execution, community on Reddit.
It’s a subreddit dedicated to sharing all things gaudy, tacky, overdone or tasteless, but done in a way that makes you doubt any of its negatives. In fact, you might spiral into a love-and-hate affair over it.
In other words, it looks like its lacking in elegance and grace, but is otherwise masterfully crafted.
The community was created in mid-2016—right about when the world started going south—and has since then grown to become one of the top-ranking subreddits out there.
The community boasts a solid 2.1 million members and is considered the top 1% of the Reddit ecosystem.
#7 Was Told I Would Post This On Here. A T-Rex Shower Head My Roommate 3-D Printed
Subreddits mostly aim to call themselves in self-explanatory ways, and this is no exception.
The shared content mostly revolves around tattoos or other personal aesthetic decisions—brains for haircuts, religio-classic self-iconographic tattoos, literal body suits, what have you—there’s also product designs, statues, and art in general that’s often featured in this group.
When it comes to determining what taste is all about, David Hume’s essay titled Of The Standard of Taste is a good guide. Hume’s essay attempts to discuss and determine the aesthetic standards and understanding of what makes things beautiful to us. Or at the very least, aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, heart, and mind.
Hume points out two elements, the first of which is the subjective. As the word already suggests, it’s all about people’s preferences and sensibilities, very individual. That in and of itself is the first standard, shaped by personal experience, cultural background, emotions, and everything in-between.
The other side of the argument is the objective element. This is meant to be a common ground with which people can evaluate works of art and aesthetics. It’s a kind of shared human convention for judgment, one that is not individual, but rather unbiased, critical and one that adheres to specific universal criteria.
