The Trouble with Negative Criticism

I had a girlfriend once a long time ago named Nell who was an impressive and interesting person. She was a photographer and a freelance graphic artist, and had dealt with some severe problems—mainly depression—in inventive and resourceful ways. Among other things, she taught me one thing that I've remembered from time to time in the decades since I knew her.

Being insulting and critical, a

position of attack when face-to-face,

is actually psychologically

a position of retreat.

We were talking about the habit of being critical—discussing a person we both knew who was caustically critical (and often entertainingly insulting) about everything. She said she didn't quite approve of that attitude, because it was so safe.

I was surprised by that word, and asked her what she meant, and she said—more or less—that hating or criticizing everything was safe because it meant you never have to take a stand. Liking something means you are opening yourself up; if nothing is good enough for you it's another way of saying you're superior to everything. Very smug, very snug. Being insulting and critical, admittedly a position of attack when face-to-face, is, psychologically, actually a position of retreat.

It's more difficult to be positive—to be clear about why something is good—than it is to be negative. Negative criticism is easy. Positive criticism is hard.

I'm not averse to going negative from time to time. But I do get to feeling a little queasy sometimes when I get into the snarky doldrums—you know, that mood where you're just sort of dissing and dismissing this and that. Very talented people put in thousands of hours and, no doubt, a steep payment in blood, sweat and tears to create something, and then legions of casual commenters like me come along—without any particular expertise, without a consuming enthusiasm, or even much interest—and lazily slag away.

Well. I have the right. I see the world aesthetically, and I have always held that any of us should reserve the right to respond to aesthetic experiences as if the encounter were meaningful to us. How else do you stand a chance to get what's to be gotten out of art, for one thing? Staying open, having your own taste and your own opinions, resisting the dictates of official expertise, inviting growth and personal change—it's a dynamic state, and it's difficult to maintain sometimes.

But just being negative all the time is too easy. Not for nothing is such criticism often called "cheap."

Mike

[Originally published as part of this post, in 2012. I need to take a few days off, so I'm going to be putting up a few posts from the past over the next couple of days. This is from a post that appeared at first blush to be about...car styling, so even if you were reading way back then, you might have missed this bit. I've always thought it's an interesting idea. —Mike the Ed.]

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Len Metcalf: "I used to criticise. I taught for years telling people what they did wrong. Error correcting, I told myself. One day, my boss gave me permission not to teach. So I went for telling them what they were doing right. To my amazement and utter astonishment the group's performance skyrocketed. They improved more quickly than I had ever seen before. They also told me they learned more from me in an afternoon than in years of workshops and seminars on leadership and teamwork.

"What followed took me years to learn to change from the critical to the accurate positive. I called it a positivist framework. With practice I got there. When I turned to teaching photography, I was good at it. My students improve so quickly now. I tell them what they are doing right. They love it. Concentrate on it. They notice and see what others are doing right and add that to their knowledge and are soon doing it too.

"Occasionally I get someone who wants to be told what they are doing wrong. I try to convince them to try this other way.

"I am such a firm believer in what you outlined. It’s become our dominant way of approaching the world. It actually doesn’t work very well at all.

"Yes, those that are stuck on it are playing safe and are also gaining self esteem by being right...being uncaring for others.

"Positive feedback is essential for the arts.

"Just my opinion mind you."

robert e: "The cheap kind of negative criticism is bluntly parodied in 'Diva' (Jean-Jaques Beineix's candied cinematic tribute to art, serendipity and innocence) in the character of a too-cool-for-school thug known as The Monk, whose affect-less reaction to just about anything is 'je n'aime pas [fill in the blank]*.' As if to underscore the idea of retreat, the character never removes his sunglasses. Hey, I think it's time for a re-watch!"

[*The French means "I don't like." —Ed.]

Mark Rouleau: "There is a wonderful short story by T.C. Boyle called 'Sorry Fugu' about a restaurant critic who is so insecure about her tastes that she lambasts every restaurant she reviews. (There's another critic in the story who lavishly praises everything, for much the same reason.) Your article reminded me of the story, and I think of it often whenever I read something by any reviewer who seems particularly difficult to please (or is overly effusive in their praise.)"

[The story can be found anthologized in Diana Secker Tesdell's Stories from the Kitchen from Everyman's Pocket Classics. —Ed.]

Comments

[Stan B.]

I've been trying to be less critical, less negative for some time now- with varying success. One should never say stuff just to be hurtful, and I'd much rather be positive about things. Being critical of everything just consumes too much time and energy- save it for the stuff that really gets under your skin, then have at it so everyone knows exactly why.

[Michael Potter]

Good post, Mike. I hope your days off are restorative.
- Mike

[robert e]

Actually, the best kind of negative criticism is not a retreat at all, as it will draw on positive examples (real or ideal), assertions and beliefs to argue the case, meaning that the critic has to expose at least as much of her perceptions, beliefs, and thought process as she would in an appreciation, if not more. That's not cheap. On the contrary, that kind of criticism is fully engaged, and encourages engagement in kind from would-be responders. Examples? Plenty of them on this very site.

[Dillan K]

Your ex-girlfriend was (and hopefully still is) a wise lady.

[Crabby Umbo]

The problem with negative criticism is that it has been so often used as a club to beat the critics opponents with, it can therefore be deemed mostly unreliable. My Grandma always said: "...consider the source...". Unfortunate, because we have been inundated with so much bad stuff, it is much needed today in the internet age!

What is missing is a concise explanation of what the critic objects to, point-by-point, and therefore one can make one's own decision about the value of the information and the critics own education. Constructive criticism has been replaced, mostly due to the internet, with "wise-assery" and trolling.

I used to know a couple involved in the arts on an educational level, who would not make ANY critique associated with art, they would shy away from any comment. You could show them the most god-awful stuff perpetrated by the most ridiculous people for the most ridiculous reason, and they would find something marginally positive to say about it. I came to realize after a while, that it was a defense mechanism against THEIR art being comment on negatively: i.e. if they didn't disclose that the emperor didn't have any clothes on, no one would lash back at them!

Sometimes, being critical "all the time", might mean that you are involved with substandard art (or whatever), for a large part of your waking hours; because God knows there's a ton if it out there! Rather than being "more positive", one might try to be less involved with the process!

[Robert Roaldi]

This kind of thinking could revolutionize the interweb.

[Bill Tyler]

I may have told this story before, but it bears repeating, I think. A number of years ago, an older lady whom my wife and I knew showed paintings at various local venues. I was not very impressed - they looked like blobs with perhaps an interesting color scheme. But fortunately, I refrained from criticism. After a couple of years and at perhaps the fourth show, the "aha" moment hit. Those "blobs" were a subtle and beautiful midpoint between pure abstraction and representation. I can't really describe it adequately, but it was like a window opened in my mind's eye, and I started to see the beauty and the visual subtlety and sophistication of the work. Ever since, I've been reluctant to criticize. Something may be as dull as I think, but equally, I might be missing something well beyond my immediate understanding.

[beuler]

"If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all". This is one of those phrases that was drummed into me as part of my education. Easier said than done of course. My experience at managing people has proved to me that this is very sound advice.

[Ilkka]

Three points about this topic:
1-If you are a teacher or workshop instructor, I think you are a better instructor if you praise more and criticise less. Sometimes it can be hard to do, but try to give 2-3 praises before saying: maybe you could try this way...
2-At work, or in similar situation, it is easy to find fault in just about anything. It won’t work, we have tried it before, too expensive, too difficult. The rule in any meeting should be that you are only allowed to criticise if you can at the same time suggest a better way. We are trying to solve problems, if you only criticise, you are not solving problems, you are the problem.
3-And in general, if you have nothing good to say, it is better not to say anything.

[Malcolm Leader]

de gustibus non est disputandum.
"matters of taste are not matters of dispute"

[Walter Foreman]

In movie criticism, I've often found that negative reviews showcase the cleverness of the critic--it's an occasion for the felicitous turn of negative phrases--and thus a reader may learn more about the reviewer than about the movie, whereas positive reviews awaken the observational and interpretive intelligence of the reviewer and make more available to the reader the possibilities of the movie.

[Rohan Gillett]

Nice article! In my case, I try to avoid giving criticism unless specifically asked for it. Unasked for, advice can be dangerous. Hopefully, it will be be on point, but in some cases it might not. If it is not you might make the recipient needlessly overthink (or worry) about an issue, which could end up being destructive.