CRITICISM OF CRITICS, TYPICAL

Not keeping score

Delivering criticism is mostly useless, except for when it is totally useless.

I'm a violent critic and a delicate creator, just like you, but sometimes I wonder: how do we stay inspired to do something we have never done? Why even persist, repeatedly trying something no one has ever done? Continuing despite feedback from friends and strangers saying it cannot be done, and even if you did it, it is worthless?

Our inventor-as-hero narrative routinely follows a strong mind who manages to create something never done before while overcoming her critics, because stories about capable people who gave up on their dreams are either sad or very sad. With examples of friends giving up on something for the remainder of their lives, parents caving due to needless discouragement or aggressive criticism, we'd be forced to question the value of our actions as critics.

As people who criticize, we want to think a person with right desire and a good idea can bring the idea to light despite criticism, not because we value people having good ideas, not because we long for the benefits of new ideas, but because it gives validation to us as critics. It lets us believe our criticism won't destroy anything valuable.

But while we know good ideas have survived criticism and grew into things, we also admit criticism does not destroy, prevent, or mitigate bad things. We cannot pretend criticism is a tool that prevents bad things from happening.

People make bad things because people like bad things. Good for people, as making good things is hard right now. The only thing harder is getting people to like good things more than bad things. Despite any purported superiority good things have over bad things, they are rarely universally well received.

To prevent bad things, we go after bad things or attack ideas themselves, to limited success. Our unbridled critic, while flailing to attack an idea or a thing, frequently attacks a person instead.

Just focus on making good things for people who want good things. Even if it ends up that you think were making bad things before, your observation shows your standards have changed. As you move forward, trying scary new ideas, or just refining your idea and making better things, you are already practiced in the skill of sustaining beyond criticism.

And if improvement is possible despite ignoring critics, perhaps we will find the critics improve as well.

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CRITICISM OF CRITICS, TYPICAL

Published April 10, 2013, 10:26 a.m.
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List of biases in judgment and decision making - Wikipedia

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