Criticism and Emotional Insecurity

[Billy]

Only an artist can provide proper criticism for another person's art, because they are aware of the pitfalls which they have experienced first-hand and are conscious of not repeating those same mistakes again.

Completely untrue, you dont have to be an artist to know some art sucks. Thats why we have critics.

 

[Arsal]

Completely untrue, you dont have to be an artist to know some art sucks. Thats why we have critics.

Somehow I completely overlooked that, but the point remains: a critic would be aware of the do's and don't's of art in relation to themselves (i.e. how they would make art). They can't objectively judge anything on its own merit, because the merit outside of the critic's perception doesn't exist. This is analogous to what happens in social situations.

[MENTION=3615]aerosol[/MENTION], I wasn't referring to that sort of advice, I was referring to advice more like "hey, your life is empty!". Criticism that's not necessarily constructive.

 

[uuu]

I think that the real root of the problem stems from the fact that the critic is asking the victim (if I may) to compare themselves to the critic. For instance, if someone says "Get a life", that is a short way of saying, "Look at me, I have a 'life' and you should too." But what's more important is that the victim has what they would consider a 'life'.
Perhaps the critic has his own insecurities, and is hoping to overcome them by putting down others (and thus looking good in comparison). But this satisfaction is only temporary. What will really relieve him is to think about what he is asking the victim to do, and see if he really does it himself. "Be the change..."

 

[Flavus Aquila]

Somehow I completely overlooked that, but the point remains: a critic would be aware of the do's and don't's of art in relation to themselves (i.e. how they would make art). They can't objectively judge anything on its own merit, because the merit outside of the critic's perception doesn't exist. This is analogous to what happens in social situations.

@aerosol, I wasn't referring to that sort of advice, I was referring to advice more like "hey, your life is empty!". Criticism that's not necessarily constructive.

I don't agree that evaluation can only be subjective - for instance, a gold refiner's work can objectively be evaluated by measuring the purity of metals. Visual art, or musical art, while being more subjective, can be evaluated in terms of its effectiveness in communication, which has both objective and subjective elements.


As for criticism, it seems that criticisms - or compliments - are the natural consequence of two things: the consideration of things in terms of how good/pleasing/useful they are; and the desire to communicate... a dialogue about things, as it were, in terms of their value/completion/etc. Unfortunately, often times this is overlayed with some people's desire to communicate the sense of failure, or to manipulate, etc.

 

[Inquisitive]

I think there's something to criticism sometimes coming from a place of discomfort with what someone else is presenting as it relates to one's own sense of self.

It might be that one recognizes a lack of resources to meet another person's needs and so rather than face that insufficiency there is a critique of the need so that need, and the sense of insufficiency, can be dismissed.

It might be that another demonstrates traits the person tends to be ashamed of or insecure about within themselves and so they criticize the externally presented manifestation of that trait.

It might be a sense of injustice over someone else not being held accountable for what they would hold themselves to or have been held to by others.

It might be a whole host of things.

I think despite critique often coming from multiple motivations, some of which are not acknowledged or known, it can still be a valuable perspective. It can spur action and facilitate better understanding of both self and other if engaged with thoughtfully.

I do think it's always good to remember that criticism is just a perspective to be considered and there may be a lot of factors driving the perspective that have little to do with the recipient of the criticism.

I agree with this.

 

[This]

Some people are also just control freaks and want everyone else to be just like them. Also I think sometimes people are afraid what you're doing is going to take you in a different path from the one they're on and they want to drag you down so that you can be stuck in your rut together rather than leave them behind. It's easier to scale down the cliff than to climb up the mountain.

 

[uuu]

Some people are also just control freaks and want everyone else to be just like them. Also I think sometimes people are afraid what you're doing is going to take you in a different path from the one they're on and they want to drag you down so that you can be stuck in your rut together rather than leave them behind. It's easier to scale down the cliff than to climb up the mountain.

I think that this is a common feeling for all sorts of "leader" type people. I do this to folks sometimes, because I feel as though the group is already invested in "my path" and deviating from that will just cause discontinuity and general badness.
Sometimes, it's helped the group, especially when the idea proposed was crazy. But other times, as you point out, we just all get stuck in a rut together.