Do not be critics, you people, I beg you. I was a critic and I wish I could take it all back because it came from a smelly and ignorant place in me, and spoke with a voice that was all rage and envy. Do not dismiss a book until you have written one, and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one, and do not dismiss a person until you have met them. It is a fuckload of work to be open-minded and generous and understanding and forgiving and accepting, but Christ, that is what matters. What matters is saying yes. -- David Eggers
The little shudder of pleasure that went through the Web last week when Creed broke up was perhaps the most ominous sign yet that we've all got way too much time on our hands. Seeing smart people actually care what happens to Creed -- one way or the other -- can only be evidence that the bottom of the barrel is well and truly scraped. I mean, come on. Creed isn't worth hating. Is everything else so wonderful that we've got to resort to eminently forgettable rock bands as the target for our vitriol?
Oh, hell no: there are plenty of things that are worth hating, that deserve hating. BoingBoing, for instance. Or Jeffrey Zeldman. Or Mark Pilgrim. Or David Fucking Eggers. They're all worth every sloshing serving of bile that can be produced.
And that's an important point. Too often criticism is seen as mere bullying, simple cruelty, a boot to the face of the poor guy whose just trying to do his best, "all rage and envy." But the driving motivation of a critic -- a good critic, anyway -- is frustration; frustration that what's being criticized isn't better than it is, isn't what it could be. To earn criticism is to show some spark, some potential, some possibility that remains exasperatingly unfulfilled. To be criticized is to be worth hating. It's a compliment, you stupid, fucking jerk-offs.
Take, for example, Anil Dash's oblique dismissal of my BoingBoing post. He hand-waves me off as whiner. But what does BoingBoing profit from being advised to ignore criticism? You'd think that Dash would be a little less cavalier about outside opinions after the whole Moveable Type licensing mess; that he'd have learned that there's value in the negative case. Here's free feedback being offered -- feedback that implies interest and the recognition of potential -- and you ignore it?
No, of course you don't. You consider it. You evaluate it. You review your decisions and history in light of it. Criticism is an opportunity, a rare chance to see yourself through someone else's eyes, and only after that opportunity has been fully explored, honestly and completely, do you ignore it. Or get angry about it. Or respond to it. Or maybe -- just maybe -- take something away from it; use it to improve yourself; to grow; to get better. But you don't dismiss it. That's only foolishness and arrogance.
Does anyone doubt that BoingBoing could be better, without all that self-indulgent crap? That doesn't mean it's awful -- or even bad -- as it stands now, but it could be better. Zeldman's post was breathtakingly smug, and a good long bout of introspection on the matter is in order. Pilgrim's technical sophistication would be better appreciated if it were presented with an attitude that didn't encourage bystanders to wish both sides dead. Hell, he'd do well to realize that Dave Winer isn't worth hating and just ignore him.
And, no, none of this is open-minded or generous or understanding or forgiving or accepting, and thank God. Because what matters isn't saying yes if it means saying yes to mediocrity or disappointment or failure. What matters is saying no. No, that's not good enough. No, you may not rest. No, you cannot stop.
Because there is potential in you, and what you might create if someone gives you a good boot to the face deserves to be born.
