Critical Thinking

DEALING WITH CRITICISM 

Taking criticism is tough. When you've invested a lot of time and effort into a project and put it out there for the rest of world to enjoy, only to receive criticism. It can hurt when certain individuals appear so determined to destroy everything you've put your heart & soul into producing. Yet this is what happens to even the greatest artists and scholars. 

Everyone is a critic these days. Trip advisor is full of criticism both good and bad. Amazon relies heavily upon it's reviews, as do all the main shopping portals. Even Uber has a rating system for our cab rides. And with Twitter used as a modern day soap box, a virtual pin board of feedback for all to see, we really have no way to opt out from criticism. 

Criticism can be good too. If it's delivered to us in a way that helps us to improve our offering, via constructive feedback, then we can take the necessary steps towards greatness. The problem comes when criticism is thrown out for no apparent reason. And if there's a following bringing momentum to a criticism, others quickly jump on the band wagon. Then the labels can stick. One example I recall where I also joined in the jibes, is from the Spitting Image days. 

Spitting Image was a satirical puppet show which poked jibes at members of government plus famous film, TV and music celebrities too. Celebrities like Phil Collins got a lot of flack. Spitting Image was a funny show, because it made some of the serious government figures like Ronald Reagan (President of the USA) and Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister of the UK), look comical, at the same time as getting across some underlying political message. Some of the MPs like Norman Tebbit were portrayed as a bit of a no-nonsense cool-headed hard-nut, so he actually liked his puppet. This puppet portrayal actually elevated his kudos to a much higher status than he deserved. Phil Collins however, became a bit of an uncool joke at the time. It may have started with Spitting Image, but whatever created this badge of un-coolness, it stuck. 

To be a fan of Phil Collins, you keep it a secret for fear of being labelled uncool. His music topped the charts in the late 80's and early nineties but the emergence of dance music, meant a movement away from Phil's style of music. So, those wishing to be seen as part of the musical revolution, went a long way to distance themselves away from chart pop music. Consequently, he was hounded and ridiculed by the press until eventually, after years of media abuse that affected his record sales (and also to avoid hefty tax payments), he moved to Switzerland and into semi-retirement. 

Fast forward 20 years - I can now appreciate the body of work that Phil co-created in Genesis, and all the chart toppers he wrote/performed in the 80's. The mid to late 80's and early 90's saw a change in popular music, with the emergence of boy bands, chart winning take overs by Stock Aitken & Waterman creating a lot of cheesy pop tunes and this sped up the masses move away from Phil's music genre to a more cool, underground dance music scene. 

A lot of my generation were keen for a music revolution to happen, so Phil was an easy target for rebellion. While Phil's era isn't exactly my preferred style of music now, it holds nostalgic value and I recognise its value much more than I did at the time in the 80's. 

My point here is that we can easily be swayed by others to follow, disassociate or condemn the work or character of those that are putting their neck on the line, so to speak. This is especially true of the youth. In their quest to move on the older generations, they may inadvertently speak harshly of those who are at their peak, to bring about change. This is no help from the media either and there are often commercial interests at the heart of all this. 

It isn't just a revolution in music that we see causing such harsh criticism, it spits venomously from 'budding critics' on IMDB when discussing films and we see humanity is at it's most base on sites like YouTube, where some of the vile jibes are arguably diffused because they are deliberately antagonistic and childish, but still harmful. Wherever the forum, the fact remains, we need to be more decent and constructive in how we feedback. 

These creative, brave & generous souls who choose to bare their souls through their art, acting, writing or singing, need to be recognised more for their contribution, plus appreciated/praised for having the guts, to put their work out in the first place.

If more critics were to take a stance from this point of view, then arguably more of us would pluck up the courage to do what we believe in. Success would be a lot easier to achieve, by avoiding having so much flack from those whose taste is merely different or just too slow to adapt.