What good is criticism if the world is full of it?
When I think of a critic, I often think of a person in a tweed jacket and maybe dark sunglasses, someone who writes for a glossy magazine or perhaps a guy who teams up with a fellow writer on a TV broadcast, talking about movies (R.I.P., Siskel and Ebert).
In the past, critics of media and popular culture served as a sort of travel guide, helping viewers navigate the treacherous waters of book selection, record selection or, of course, which movie to see on an opening Friday night.
Critics were generally educated, erudite writers or academics who spent all their time watching, reading and, ultimately, publishing information about their respective mediums. They were the experts.
Take film criticism for instance.
At one time, it could have been considered an art form in and of itself. Readers and movie fans had those people that were go-to figures, people you trusted to give you some advice on what movie to see.
Articles would appear in places like the New York Times or The New Yorker or the Chicago Tribune where the writer would discuss the movie in a literary, almost scholarly way—as if it were the most important thing in the world.
Those articles were then collected and published in hard and soft covers and sold in bookstores like a textbook or research tool.
They were, after all, experts.
That is a very singular view of criticism, however.
Today, criticism is much, much different.
It is the default response to anything and everything in the world.
It is the social currency of the modern age, spoken by anyone and everyone. It’s a flag or banner or uniform color, something you fly proudly for the entire world to see.
If you’re not sure what I mean, pop open your cell phone or click a web browser and go to your favorite social media page.
Go to any article, any story, any picture, any status, or any topic whatsoever from young people, old people, happy people, sad people, it makes no difference.
Go there and click on the comments section and you’ll see it.
We live in a free country and, as a member of the press, I believe very strongly in freedom of speech.
One has to ask, though: is going out of your way to announce your opinion about every little thing really contributing anything to society, the cultural conversation or a better understanding of the human condition?
It seems to be the flavor of the week, however.
It’s abundant and endless, thrown around like handfuls of chicken seed from a bottomless feedbag.
“I don’t like this.”
“They shouldn’t do that.”
“We don’t need this,” and on and on and on.
The Founding Fathers included freedom of speech in the Constitution for a reason.
But I doubt that reason was to complain about community activity and broken ice cream machines.
We all have a voice and we all have the right to use it.
But sometimes it’s necessity and sometimes it’s a choice.
-Michael Williamson is a reporter for the Journal-Tribune.