Haters

Here's the important thing to remember about the internet.

It's . . . the internet.  A place where negativity thrives.

You see this often in the arts.  We love to talk about what sucks and who sucks.

Do a blog post or video about how everyone (except you and your friends) are money hungry, artistically deprive sellouts and you can almost see people racing in to add their two pennies.

Here's something I noticed:

I have rarely seen an artist or arts administrator who constantly criticizes others that has had  any real success in their own career.

Have you noticed that?

Have you noticed that those who judge others the harshest also do the crappiest art or run the most lackluster arts organizations?

I'm pretty sure those things are correlated.

This is a tough world that we operate in.  Let's be gentle with each other.

 

 

Comments

[Tom]

In addition to being too critical behind others' backs, I sometimes feel that people are not critical enough when asked directly for feedback. The connotation of "criticism" has sort of tainted the phrase, but constructive criticism is an important part of creating new art, as long as it's done helpfully and without vitriol.

We just need to be able to point out, "This specific thing didn't work for me and here's why," instead of saying, "No, it was great!" and then leaving and telling friends, "What crap!"

Or is this a Minnesota problem? ;)

[Adam]

Nope, it's an universal problem and a very good point.

[nick]

But to attempt to speak the truth is difficult. Its very nature has little gentleness in it.

"Where there is truth, there will be no peace. Where peace abides, you will find no truth." Pontius Pilate in The Gospel According to the Son: A Novel By Norman Mailer