Everyone's a Critic

If you are a reality TV junkie (guilty!) you can't help but notice the proliferation of shows that are wrapped around a competition. The contestants are required to perform feats of extraordinary skill (usually in a limited amount of time) and in the end they are judged by a panel of experts. Sometimes the results are magnificent and sometimes they are horrible. Regardless, they are always entertaining.

Watching these people jumping as high as they can for that elusive pie in the sky prize has the net effect of turning me into a critic in five seconds flat. I nod enthusiastically in agreement when the judges’ critique is negative. How could the contestant not see they had gone so far off the path? When the judges and I don't agree, I am mystified. I reign supreme as the armchair judge of my living room. Then I talk to my friends, and we compare notes on our favorites and those that we can’t wait to go home.

Reality TV has turned us all into critics. And given Simon Cowell’s popularity, we kind of like our critics a bit mean.

As a writer, I get anxious about putting my words out there sometimes, because I see how pervasive this phenomenon has become. I have a hard enough time getting past my inner critic. It used to be you were like the contestants in those shows; when you were critiqued it was an expert in the field. In today's world, where everyone has an opinion on every topic (and they usually think they are right), it is a whole other ballgame.

Before you mention getting a thicker skin by the way- I have one. I know that everyone has an opinion, and not everyone is going to like me. I know that there will likely be people who strongly dislike my work given its genre (bordering on horror). And I’m okay with that, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. It is simply the way things have gone in the Web 2.0 world.

You give to get, and you aren’t always going to get what you wanted. So the best we can do is filter the good from the bad, continue to improve as we can, and do our best not to take it all too personally.