A Critical Look at Being Critical

Posted by ASandoval on August 11, 2009 under Games, Misc., Movies, Music | 3 Comments to Read

Nearly a year ago, a friend of mine was taking part of a group discussion along with myself about a game mechanic idea that she had. I don’t remember the exact details of my reply, just that it left a bitter taste in her mouth. In the end, I was left with accusations of being overly critical and, in her words, of being “Mr. Negativity”.

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this; actually I’ve been dealing with accusations of being generally negative and critical for many, many years. It’s no wonder then that I have such an interest in media journalism, as these are the same words being uttered by the internet hive mind about any professional writer who says something they disagree with or just generally don’t want to hear.

Personally speaking, I feel as though I’m fairly laidback in my view of media, because regardless of whether or not they write about it, geek culture is fueled by cynicism. I can hardly ever have a conversation with any of my non-journalist friends and talk about music without talking about why mainstream music is a blemish compared to their musical tastes, but I can generally turn on a radio station and chill out to whatever is playing. I’m also fairly opinionated about movies, but Matrix Reloaded stands as my favorite of that trilogy, I think Ghostbusters 2 is hilarious and while not living up to the ridiculous standard they had to live up to, I’m generally pleased with the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Yes, all three of them.

But even for all of those examples, I have a rhyme and reason for it. I’m not satisfied with merely liking or disliking something, I have to understand why I feel that way about it and why someone may agree or disagree with me. That is the true nature of being critical about something. This leads me to what I’m driving at: since when did being critical become synonymous with being negative?

Certainly you can be negative when being critical. In fact, it seems that when someone is opinionated, it’s the negativity that other people choose to focus on. That’s all fine and good, but does someone having a different opinion than someone else have to be taken so personally? Moreover, should it influence a person’s opinion of the kind of person the critical one is?

And being critical about something you dislike is not always about negativity as well. To use a personal example, a good deal of my friends, including myself, are not fans of the Halo series of video games. For a couple of them, they feel as though the game is an abomination, even going as far as saying the only reason people like such an “average and un-unique” game is because its popular (This is a logical fallacy known as circular logic, but again, geeks = cynics). While I’m not a fan of the game and believe there are better shooters (or to be more precise, shooters that appeal more to my interests), Halo has many positive merits and I can understand why someone would enjoy the game, such as perfectly paced level design and compelling A.I. that does not rely on cheating (See Mario Kart’s infamous rubber band A.I.) or smokes and mirrors (See Half-Life).

Right now, the world of media journalism is rough. There has never been any set standard or rule like there is in news journalism (although whether that is followed itself is debatable, but I digress.) which gives readers an incentive to lack credibility in media journalists, to an almost unfair degree. Even worse, with the economy the way it is and trade magazines falling left and right, it gives publishers/studios an edge against publications when it comes to controlling information, meaning people should be more worried about journalists becoming slimy PR reps rather than being opinionated dickheads. Thus is another benefit of someone being critical: at least you know they’re honest with you.

I don’t expect to change any minds with this article; I don’t even have a real readership to influence. But highlighting myths about who I am and the way I think makes me feel better about myself, so at least there’s that.

Or maybe I’m just being negative about others. Who knows?