Are critics the arsenic of the people?

Image: djcodrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I have been listening to this song (not saying which one.. you'll only slag me off) and was curious about who wrote it and what the story behind it was.

So I googled it.

Boy was I sorry.

I found what can only be described as a hate-filled stream of invective at each result displayed by google. So here's what seems to be happening. A song is recorded and released. Maybe it gets some airplay, maybe it doesn't. It's not important. Some people like the song, like hearing it on the radio and go out and buy it in some form. Some probably download it illegally. I'm saying nothing about that. The song gets billions of plays on ipods, walkman phones, and just about any other kind of device that can play music.

At the same time the song is reviewed at various websites. The person reviewing the song either likes, dislikes or has a neutral opinion about the song. That's pretty reasonable up to that point except for one small factor. The person reviewing the song is comparing it with something. What will they compare it with? That's the million dollar question.

The review comes out and guess what. It annoys all those people who hold a contrary view. A row breaks out. Mud is thrown from here to there and people get pretty agitated. You're wrong. No you are. You are a dumbass. No it's you that's a jackass. And so on.

And it's down to this thing about subjective opinion, judgement. It's disastrous for us because we don't really need to judge something as harmless as a song, or a band, or a singer, or a sound. But we do. And that judgement is not very honest. And it annoys the hell out of people.

And what does judgement actually bring to us? How exactly is critique of someone else's work useful when all it does is say something as trite as "I don't like this". And should anyone really care what someone else thinks about what another likes.

I think Seth Godin once wrote that while Washington DC has hundreds of statues of great leaders, poets and thinkers not one of the statues is of a critic.

I don't have much time for critics because it's such a waste of time trying to make a living spotting the faults in something when someone has laboured to create it out of devotion or just plain hard work.

I promise to never read reviews of songs, albums, artists or movies. Why should I care?