Appetite for Creation

I saw this strip from Jeph Jacques' web comic Questionable Content just after I finished a novel that caused my IQ to recede ever so slightly.

Normally web comics don't appear at such apt times (although xkcd occasionally reads my mind--creeeeeepy). I'm not going to say which book I was reading, but the prose was often pretty close to that which Sven wrote in the QC strip. And my reaction was similar to that of Sven's assistant.

I am no stranger to the difficulty of creating something. Especially creating something that will be generally regarded as good (which is such a maddeningly arbitrary term anyway). I am impressed that somebody--anybody--has the cojones to put out anything they wrote, drew, painted, sculpted, filmed, specifically for the purpose of public scrutiny. It's an amazing leap of faith, so I am disinclined to negatively criticize a person's work openly.

[Aside: Maybe I should start a blog dubbed "The Reluctant Critic." Has that been done?]

The internet, specifically blogs, Twitter, and the like--clearly I am a user--give everyone a podium at which to stand and voice their opinions as anonymously as you like. So, often, I see people just let it out--say some really awful things to each other. And it's disheartening to witness. I can only imagine what the creators are feeling.

Not to say it's always like that, but the positive and/or constructively critical stuff can get utterly overwhelmed by the cruelty. My point is not to stop criticizing honestly, but there has to be better ways of expressing distaste than saying "You suck." (P.S. That's not a criticism, that's an attack.)

It's a cliche to talk about how destroying is infinitely easier than creating, but it's simply true. A second well-known expression apparently needs to be rewritten: If you can't say something nice, post it online.