Critic — a definition

2 Comments »

• Peter says:

  26 October 2009 at 1:51 pm

  I am sitting in the smallest room in the house.
  I have your review before me.
  In a moment it will be behind me.

  — composer Max Reger in a letter to Munich critic Rudolph Louis.

  (thanks to Jim Tucker, Intro)

• Peter says:

  29 October 2009 at 4:57 pm

  Trolls – a special form of critic?

  Lots of things about work are hard. Dealing with trolls is one of them. Trolls are critics who gain perverse pleasure in relentlessly tearing you and your ideas down. Here’s the thing(s):

  1. trolls will always be trolling
  2. critics rarely create
  3. they live in a tiny echo chamber, ignored by everyone except the trolled and the other trolls
  4. professionals (that’s you) get paid to ignore them. It’s part of your job.

  ‘Can’t please everyone,’ isn’t just an aphorism, it’s the secret of being remarkable.

  (Via Seth Godin.)

  Something else in the eye of the beholder, methinks.

  Doesn’t the “gain perverse pleasure” comment resemble a hallucination/projection unless one has knowledge of the troll/critic’s, er, pleasures or some declaration has been made to that effect? (It seems it does to me.)

  I talked about that in this post Falling into error: when we think we know why…

  Elsewhere, experienced bloggers talk about dealing with ‘mean-spirited’ comments and blogs.
  The lovely Lorelle has some wisdom to share:

  Many mean spirited bloggers are just bullies in disguise. Once confronted, they back down. Or they are having a bad day and taking it out on you. Or possibly, they are just clueless and have no idea that what they’ve just said is hurtful. Once confronted, they realize their mistake and apologize or go elsewhere.

  How do you know when a mean spirited blogger is just a bully or really into the evil and chaos they create? After all, words on your screen don’t give you a lot of background information and clues.

  Key quote: “words on your screen don’t give you a lot of background information and clues.”

  Yup, hallucination. Divining motives is difficult.

  Seth’s ‘echo chamber’ image is a good one. [Of course, when I have one-zillionth of Seth Godin’s experience and insight into online life, my opinion may be worth something… 😉 ] My view:

  People need to be accountable for their public statements. Anonymous log-ins tend — in some — to breed a recklessness and nasty damaging discourtesy. And they shouldn’t get away with it. (I still defend the right of whisteblowers to post anonymously — but not personal abuse or lies.)

  – P