Commenting and evaluating are important tools that help us to understand and describe what we are experiencing. On a social level, this process allows us to receive feedback and understand other people’s perspectives. On a personal level, interpretation and evaluation are important for building our logical thinking because we instinctively tend to demonstrate our understanding in any way we can.
This behaviour helps us to organise our thoughts, clarify our ideas and process information in depth. At the same time, we can enrich our thinking by evaluating others’ comments and feedback.
But there is another dimension. Criticism has to deal with a broader situation than the one mentioned. It requires a deeper analysis.
A critical approach requires knowledge and experience of the subject. Critical thinking involves evaluating an issue objectively and drawing logical conclusions from different perspectives. For this reason, critical thinking is usually reserved for those who have knowledge and experience of the subject.
In short, while anyone can comment and evaluate anything they have experienced, that does not mean that they can also criticise properly. Every criticism is an evaluation, but not every evaluation is a criticism.
Photo by Ernie A. Stephens on Unsplash
Finally, the day of my favourite band’s concert arrived and I was happy to have a good time once again. This band has something very special for me. So much so that it was the third concert I went to. I hope there will be more to come.
I don’t know if it’s my misfortune or not, but whenever I go to a concert there are always people who are not interested in the concert and can’t stop talking for no reason at all. Apart from the fact that I liked the position I was standing in, I couldn’t move, so I was exposed to the irrelevant laughter of the people talking. Please don’t be that comfortable when you’re enjoying your social pleasures. I felt sorry for these people who had no respect for the moment, the band or their surroundings.
Let’s get back to their relevance. At the end of such activities, I often wonder how happy my friends are. As I was alone, I inadvertently overheard the people talking around me. These two people were the ones I was referring to, and their collective comment was: “Well, not bad, I guess”.
This example, which I write in annoyance, is an example of an unpleasant evaluation. Lacking any awareness of the entertainment service they were receiving, they could only come up with such a comment by simply being there and talking non-stop during the concert, which literally lasted two hours. Now I think we can better understand the need of competence for proper criticism.
The comments we make about the cafes and restaurants we go to and our interpretation of the food for that day or meal also fall into the category of evaluation. In order to bring a critical perspective to this, we need more detailed knowledge. Perhaps an awareness of the harmony of flavours on the menu, the changes from our previous experience, or our experience of a similar meal elsewhere can help us to make a more honest and acceptable critical interpretation.
As you can see, we need to have the right kind of knowledge about at least one aspect of the subject, but we do not need to have a superficial view like everyone else.
But does everyone need to comment or criticise? Apparently we explained at the beginning of the article why people feel the need to comment, but I suppose there is a psychological layer to approaching criticism from a critical point of view.
We have emphasised the requirements for criticism several times, there is no need to repeat them. But some people have no doubt that they have the know-how. So much so that they make comments that even experts do not make, becoming victims of their over-inflated egos and demonstrating their know-it-all attitude in an unpleasant way.
The other side of being able to say “I know something about this” is to criticise (or attack in an irrelevant way) the subject being discussed. Of course, I am not saying that criticism is bad or unnecessary, but that it is inappropriate and irrelevant.
Criticism can be positive or negative. The common point, as we keep saying, is about overcoming the simplicity of evaluation. I was just looking at a website that lists books by an author I like. As far as I could see, anyone who had read the book and was a member of the site could leave a comment. As you know, the button is called “Comment”, but everyone is a master, everyone is a scholar. I even saw “comments” written as if to give the author a lesson. “Hey Jules Verne, James Joyce, Ray Bradbury, have you heard? Master commentator Excalibur17 is saying things about your books that even you don’t know! Come out of your graves and pay some attention to this person, see what you have done wrong and repent”.
Some people are impossible to understand. I mean, I know I’m not the only one who questions this, but I can’t understand how it can be so easy to criticise. Sometimes, frankly, I’m surprised. Teenagers with lots of followers online who have not been able to accept their maturity are nothing but commentators who think they are criticising. With their false fame, the intoxication of consuming the product and the irrelevant and personal ideological obsessions they bring with them, everyone has become a critic, right?
I can actually attribute this to the perception of inadequacy, which seems to be the opposite of what I have just said. If a person feels unsuccessful in most things, the moment they feel successful (finishing the book they are reading), they feel they have gained competence. They don’t need to be an expert anymore, just consuming it can give them that courage. The sad thing is that it is not just our young friends who do this, but people of all ages.
When the gravity of a situation is not recognised, acceptance sets in. Ignorant people in societies that have become accustomed to it will continue to interpret without knowing the ingredients of the food they eat, without feeling the music in their souls, without knowing the maturity of the writer and the knowledge of literature, and will continue to think that this is quality criticism.
Photo by Adrian Swancar on Unsplash
I think literature is the most popular area for this, because everyone who reads a book feels the information in themselves and thinks they can criticise the book. However, I am sure that we can also see the frequency of this in many artistic fields, and especially in those points that succumb to popular culture (that is, to be part of everyone, which is enough to make an evaluation).
That’s why I think the most sensible thing to do is to know the source of the subject in question, not to blindly believe what is said, not to be tempted to accept everyone’s comments or criticisms, and to read these comments after collecting our own personal thoughts and putting them through our own filter.
Of course, there is also a basic question I ask myself in such situations: “Do I have enough knowledge on this subject and do I need to comment or criticise?”
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