#Importance of Criticism
6 messages in this thread
How can you be an editor of a magazine and strive to be non-critical? Exactly
what do you mean?
"How can you be an editor of a magazine and strive to be non-critical? Exactly
what do you mean?"
Henry, exactly what do YOU mean?
Rick
How can anyone live life by being non-critical? Isn't that a cop out? How
can one hide one's own true feelings? How can one subdue the desire to
improve, to forge something into something better?
Henry,
Middle level management make _carreers_ based on doing just that.
Doug
Being non-critical is a cop out? No, I don't think so. Oh, maybe if you're
"hiding [your] true feelings" it is. But we must be talking about two
different things.
What you need to understand is that, from my viewpoint, each and every person
has his or her own reality. The things that are important to you may be
totally insignificant to me, and vice-versa. I can't even begin to understand
how you feel on any particular issue, because how you feel IS A PRODUCT OF WHO
YOU ARE. Everything that has happened to you, every moment of your life, has
brought you to the point at which you now are, the opinions, feelings, and
outlooks you now have.
Now, given that I can't possibly know life as you know it, given that I can't
understand how you feel about an issue except on a very surface level, it'd be
pretty shallow for me to think that I could tell you what is right or wrong for
you. By the same token, I can't make a decision about what is "better" for
anyone other than myself. Notice I said "other than myself". I can be critical
of what I do, and how the world around me influences ME. I can decide what is
"right" and what is "wrong" for me. I DO have a desire to improve, which is
why (among other things), I'm travelling along this particular path. Realize
that what I'm describing is NOT the way I am — I am critical of others and
other's work at times — but I'm working on it.
I fear I'm explaining this rather poorly, and it all probably makes no sense at
all. Perhaps it might be worth your while to do a bit of reading in related
areas. Maybe "Illusions" by Richard Bach and "The Tao of Pooh" by Benjamin
Hoff, if you'd like a starting point.
Apologies for not being able to give you a nice, clean, black-and-white answer.
Rick
I would agree with what I perceive as your affirmation of subjective
realities and different points of view. It's an important philosophy that most
of the rest of the world ignores.
Unfortunately, though, believing in subjective reality does not mean that one
can't take one's own stand on an issue. It does mean that when one takes a
stand, one is more open to changing one's mind when proven wrong, and that one
is probably a better listener.
Criticism is vital for progress.