Everyone is a Critic: a criticism of criticism

"Everyone's a critic: when you are doing something good, everybody wants to bring you down, and that's something I've been told. People want to see you do good, but not too good." -Roman Reigns, American Wrestler

Reading a biography on the late, great Larry McMurtry, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove, this comment from one of his mentors and compatriots Frank O'Connor gave me a reason to pause and ponder:

"Be gentle with your criticism. It is just as hard to write a bad book as it is to write a good one."

In a world where strangers verbally filet one another in comments sections online, rare is the person wise enough to constructively criticize with empathy.

Anyone can be a critic. Anyone! It takes no wisdom, insight, or ability. It just requires opportunity. We are each afforded daily opportunities to be critical of others.

It is impossible not to criticize. Criticism is the universal badge of individuality. We make judgments on everything, whether we share them or not.

When we share our criticism, there are guidelines to which we should adhere if we intend to construct rather than destroy.

• Is it honest?
• Is it helpful?
• Is it needful?
• Am I qualified or justified to make the criticism?

There are so many ways to view, hear, or experience a thing, it can feel impossible to arrive at objective truth about it. That thing may be a speech, a book, a movie, an election, a work event, a catastrophe...anything.

We rely on critics to help us decide whether to attend a movie, read a book, or take a job. Old-school movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gained national fame giving their opinions on film. Then, they passed the torch to us when the Internet came along. Now, we have Rotten Tomatoes giving everyone a voice. I didn't always agree with Siskel or Ebert and I do not always agree with a Rotten Tomatoes rating. Sometimes, I want to throw rotten tomatoes at Rotten Tomatoes.

Goodreads exists to share experiences with books and provide opportunities for critiques and criticism. Writers live and die by Amazon reviews (I should know).

If you are considering a new job, you might check out the prospective employer on Glassdoor.

So, if I am going to be a critic (and I am, and so are you), how do I get it right?

Here are the critics I believe in...

The Humble Critic

Too often, criticism is a thinly veiled form of virtue signaling or horn-tooting. The critic desires to be seen as superior in intellect, ability, achievement, or morality to the person (or organization) they criticize.

Humility is a difficult topic but essential to helpful, constructive criticism. The definition of humility is an almost bottomless pool, especially when you consider biblical interpretations and meanings.

The Oxford definition is "the quality of not thinking that you are better than other people."

Let's roll with that. The humble critic understands that the intent of criticism is just as important as the content. Moreover, you can typically ascertain the intent by the content.

The Honest Critic

Criticism is no place to be disingenuous or deceptive. Any person who intentionally misinterprets something to demean or discredit another is a bad actor. For instance, the critic may know the spirit of something someone else said yet pounce on the words used to twist them into something else altogether. This happens ad nauseum in political debates and commentary. It also raises its ugly head in the criticism of celebrities. Twisting what they said into something they must abandon or apologize for when it is clear they didn't mean what the critics saddle them with is one of the favorite weapons of modern criticism.

Context matters.

Words are powerful. They are the power behind aspiration, inspiration, and destruction.

Be honest but do no harm.

In a Psychology Today article, Mark B. Baer, Esq. quotes Jennifer Kinsley:

The relationship between speech and harm, as a practical matter, if not a legal one, is obvious. Despite the ancient sticks-and-stones adage, which boldly proclaims that words lack the power to cause bodily injury, it is beyond dispute that speech has the power to inflict emotional and psychological harm. In the interpersonal context, the harsh words of others can undoubtedly influence a person’s self-image and emotional well-being. Indeed, the literature on cyberbullying is replete with harrowing accounts of mental illness, self-injury, and suicide caused in large part by speech-related aggression….

Beyond individual harm, exposure to negative expression can also generate dangerous or unwanted collective harm…. It is true that the spread of negative information, uninformed opinion, and hateful rhetoric can lead to social disruption.

Unquestionably, words—the currency of almost all interpersonal interaction—have the ability to negatively affect us, individually and collectively.

The Helpful Critic

Criticism has its place. It can be invaluable in the pursuit of a better product or idea.

One of my favorite examples is in the exchange between the famous editor and publisher Cyrus Curtis and his wife Louisa.

In The history of the Saturday Evening Post, I found this jewel:

In 1879, when (Cyrus Curtis) inherited $2,000, he started a weekly paper, The Tribune and Farmer.

In 1883, he decided to include a page of items that would interest women readers. After writing “Women at Home,” he showed it to his wife (Louisa Knapp Curtis). When she criticized his work, he asked, “I suppose you could do better?”

“Yes,” she replied, and so he handed the job over to her.

Readers responded enthusiastically to what she wrote. She began writing this feature regularly, and sales of the Tribune and Farmer rose sharply. The women’s feature grew into a supplement, then into its own magazine. Originally called the Ladies Journal, the name was changed to Ladies’ Home Journal in 1899 when it reached a circulation of 500,000. (Eventually, it would become the first American magazine whose circulation reached one million.)

Critics make themselves useful by offering valid alternatives and/or valuable insights.

I appreciated Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel for the way they debated and defended their criticisms. They realized they weren't the only critics around. They were themselves critiqued and criticized for their critiques and criticisms.

We ought to be careful critics, realizing we are not just the purveyors of criticism but also the recipients.