[potsandpans]

Id argue that your dichotomy in of itself requires context.

While the idea that qualia depends on contextual cues might be valuable to understand how culture evolves, it's also indicative that that these cultural phenomena evolve to preserve in group/out group dynamics.

It's not so much, "taste is meaningless" and more, "taste is an arbitrary construction." These kinds of tests are the natural tools of the cynics and satirists of the world.

Critics and purveyors of the Fine Arts and Refined Tastes tend to get a little "up their own asses" about the things that they like.

So, while I agree that the framing of "taste is meaningless" is a bad take, it's valid to point out that there's natural humor here.

This kind of playful mockery is as old as the arts themselves. See: Diogenes.