So....is listening a skill?

[Stadler]

Thank you.

I suppose this is meant to be an exercise in objectivity vs subjectivity and how it can never be fully either one. If it was purely objective, it could be measured. But if it were purely subjective, there is no difference between Mangini and a 2 yr old beating pots and pans with wooden spoons. There IS a line, but it’s not possible to define that line or objectively state where it is. But to deny it exists at all just because no one can measure where it is is silly. There are many things in every day life that we know exist, but can’t explain is absolutely concrete terms.

It’s about not being neither subjective nor objective and yet being both.

Again, respectfully, I think you're missing a component here.    EVERYTHING is judged versus a frame of reference.    Even your "Mangini/2 year old" comparison.   If the criteria is just "do I like it" - the purest form of "subjective", since not only is it different for every person, but perhaps it's different for EACH person depending on when, where, and what - then sure, there is no difference between the "Mangine" and a 2 year old.  But if you move to the "Objective", you HAVE to assign a criteria against which we assess that objectivity.    Is "Stairway To Heaven" better than "Supper's Ready"?   I don't know. What's the criteria?  SUBJECTIVELY you say SR, I say STH (though, aside, I just saw the Musical Box play SR in it's entirety and man oh man was it good).   OBJECTIVELY, what?   Number of copies sold?  Neither were singles, but Zep IV outsold Foxtrot, so STH.   Radio plays?  Stairway is on every year end best song list, without fail.  So STH.   Length?  Stairway is 8:02 and Supper is 22:57.   So  Supper.  You get the point.    You can't say most of what you are saying without some qualifier, some frame of reference that is missing.  I think that's why the reception may not be what you had hoped.

I'm all for the idea of ditching "linear thinking" (it's not worth going into, except to say I can document this, but I do tend to think differently than most people, much more conceptually than most, and it is both a blessing and a curse at times), but for those that are wired to think that way (and there's no detriment to that) you can't just shatter the mold like piece of glass.  You still have to provide the road map from A to G.