š«¶š»
This is probably less of a choice and more of a personality defect. Itās ultimately an alienating and soul crushing way to live your life. But there is no way to be successful without being highly critical, at least as an editor. The danger is when you turn it on yourself and people you are close to (inevitable). In a culture where weāre sold blind positivity (profit motive), it's important to stay critical, to stay on your toes. As an editor this is most important. But itās also important to be an āA-typeā thinker instead of a āB-typeā thinker: you have to offer ways to improve what it is youāre criticizing, and not just be critical for the sake of criticizing.
May 10, 2023
Related Recs
š¤
A brief anecdote to preface this (skip to get straight to the philosophy):
Today a team member and I (building a business) met with an expert in his respective field to ask some questions. After a little explanatory back-and-forth, it was clear he had a complete lack of knowledge of our sector, and had only understood the description of our project on a superficial level. Nonetheless, he proceeded to spend most of the time āpushing backā, and therefore was unable to offer much insight that we could use.
āāāā
Critique/judgment without understanding is invalid ā period. This is confusing to some critics/would-be critics/people because they conflate the accumulation of knowledge with the skill of understanding. Letās say youāre a music critic ā you know lots of stuff about many kinds of music, many eras, etc. One day something comes along your desk, you pop it on, and it sounds a bit odd. Youāve never heard of the artist beforeā¦ it sounds vaguely similar to something you know of ā sure, letās compare it to that, I guess. In this moment, you may not realize that you have a blindspot. Maybe you donāt yet understand the cultural or aesthetic movement this piece of music is born from because it doesnāt overlap with your breadth of knowledge (even if itās very wide). Your prior knowledge may inform your ability to understand, but it doesnāt replace it. A real critic will take the time, as their duty, to understand as best they can before they make any critique. Anyone else isnāt a real critic.
This goes for everything and everyone, not just professional or expert criticism. Itās true on an individual level, a social/cultural level, a political level, etc.
Now especially, everyoneās a critic ā and thatās both great and terrible/terrifying. Criticism/judgment are perfectly valid and useful forms of human expression if and only if you seek to understand beforehand.
So, we can think about that from the perspective of giving criticism and, of course, receiving it. Being open to criticism is a massively important quality to develop, but if someone hasnāt made an effort to understand you/your idea, their critiques can go into the trash can. š®
āāāā
š©µš©µ
Jun 4, 2024
ā
My New Yearās resolution was going to be āstop being so criticalā however I have a degree in critical thought and Iāve come to realise that being judgemental is what makes me good at philosophy. perhaps my loud distaste for many things (and people) is a small vice to spring from my greatest of virtues.
Jan 31, 2024
š
Of course the media someone chooses to consume and the things they like to buy can signify certain personality traits but these choices arenāt personality traits in and of themselves. people take criticism of things they like as a personal attack and I think this is partly why thereās such a dearth of incisive cultural criticism today.
Encouraging people to personally identify with the products they buy = the devilās marketing strategyā¦
Oct 7, 2024
Top Recs from @patrick-mcgraw
š¤
Network spirituality etc etc etc. One of the only books I have ever read twice.
May 10, 2023
š«¶
Favorite architect, still alive and teaching in Kyoto. His buildings are all formally bizarre in terms of structure and ratio and thereās a theory that him and other Japanese architects of his generation purposefully do not adhere to western architectural proportions and aesthetic ideals as a silent protest against the west because of the war and the nuclear fallout that many of them endured as children.Ā He is also a terrific fiction writer. Iāve been trying to get him to write for the magazine for some time now. Apparently he used to beat his employees with a T-ruler.
May 10, 2023
š¤
A near perfect vampire anime that I was turned on to by my emo Latino friends in Orange County (California) as a teen. It was originally drawn as a hentai manga by the Rubenesque Kouta Hirano, who eventually replaced the sex with extreme violence and sold it as a show. I bought a bootleg Hellsing shirt in London a few years ago and was stabbed the first night I wore it out. The shirt is still covered in dried blood on the sides. I wore it for the first time in years a couple of weeks ago.
May 10, 2023