i'm not philosophically opposed to shreds, i just don't hear what's there to be enjoyed - or admired, even - in them
there may well be a function for shredding but it's one that doesn't function for me, or that I can't see the function of
not sure how this can be called anything
but philosophical opposition. if you want to quibble semantics and call the opposition aesthetic or whatever, OK.
either way the point is you, by your own admission, don't like it, don't understand it - not remotely, not on any level - and you seem, no offense, basically ignorant of the history, yet despite all that you still feel free to tell us why it is empty and worthless
which critique boils down to 2 things: 1) shredding is non-functional dickswinging excess 2) that is bad
1) is just wrong - shredding is function in the same way MBV waves are - the shredding is part both of the structure and the point of the thing. the function is to make you bang your head and go, fuck yeah that's fucking cool. "aesthetico-political stance" seems awfully like elusive faff, but if we're gonna pretend otherwise shredding is also about surrender, in a way, as well as expression of raw primal emotion - it is wild, frenzied, intense. or to put it pretentiously, it's Dionysian, or better yet Bacchian - in the Euripidean sense. in death metal that (scalar) frenzy is balanced out with the death drive. the kinds of metal that employ shredding are generally maximal in the same way ardkore is - not a full-body high cos different drugs, but full aural overload.
there is a "why" to shredding. it's just not a question you're interested in asking, or an answer you're interested in hearing/knowing.
and btw frenzy is exactly what separates this from Vai/Satriale etc - they're all scales and no frenzy
2) is just your personal taste given as value judgment
why are feats of solo prowess "empty"? what's wrong with showing off? with dramas of masculine prowess (also, how is shredding inherently masculine)? the answer is nothing, you just don't like them. you prefer "expressive" guitars. post-punk, post-rock, shoegaze, noise rock. tasteful guitars.
which is fine, and not surprising - you're in a long honored tradition of intellectual critics who can't stand heavy guitars, from Zep + Sabbath on down
just wish you'd give it up with all the expressive v. masturbatory kind of nonsense.