Curved and Straight Tonearms

So, who first promulgated that thought, Bertrand Russell or William Butler Yeats? In the Second Coming, written in 1919, Yeats wrote:
"The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."

It doesn’t matter, really. We see evidence of the truth in these sentiments on a daily basis, emanating from the White House and its environs.

It is a sad commentary upon the times when we can't sort out definitively the pluses and minuses of a mature technology like tonearms, but have no trouble at all getting a bead on the emanations Tweeting from the White House.  Which is way off topic.  My apologies.

@billstevenson  Thanks for your thoughtful reply. My original question related to pros and cons of each type of arm and your comments are certainly in that vein. I know all of this can be very subjective and system/room dependent. I want to experiment a little with different cartridges and your "ease of use" comment relating to the Technics is something I need to consider. And please, to the group. I don't want to start a war of VPI versus Technics. I know VPI makes great tables. But, at my advanced age ease of use is a plus.   

There's no real advantage to curved arms. TT manufacturers began making them because the convenience of removable headshells allow for quick cartridge swaps and easy setting of the offset angle. The advantage is the ability to place the cartridge square in the headshell and achieve offset angle. Like many trends in turntable design, the bends give no appreciable advantage in resonance control. Another marketing gimmick that doesn't produce any discernable difference under real playback conditions.

What brf and Lewm said is correct... and now add helomech. 

No manufacturer would make a curved arm if the industry did not adopt the SME style headshell that has no offset angle. The ONLY reason to make a curved arm is to have the offset angle at the armwand since the headshell is a straight geometry. The SME 3 has detachable armwand instead of detachable headshell so they have to make the offset at the arm. Curved arm is a result of geometric necessity. If a curved arm sounds good, it is good not because is curved. The curved Alphason tonearm is made of one piece tube so they have to bend the arm to have the offset angle. Rega is also one piece but straight because the armtube is cast aluminum. Much of it is the result manufacturing process. Many curved arms with detachable headshell also have a side weight at one side of the bearing is because the uneven mass of curved arm needs to be balanced. Again, form follows function. Hey, I use curved arm with detachable headshell because I like having the option of changing out cartridges not because curved arm sounds better.