Then there is this confusion between opinion and fact. All the time we are subjected to opinions being paraded as facts. Hans Rosling’s Factfulness propagates the theory that you can live in hope if you develop “the stress-reducing habit of only holding on to opinions for which you have strong supporting facts”
In current times, people around us don’t seem to engage much in critical thinking. Indeed, people appear to be happy to get by with exercising their minds as little as possible. I am not too sure of the origin of this malaise, but I find evidence of lazy minds everywhere.
What we see happening on a large scale is perhaps a manifestation of “collective representation” which is defined by Émile Durkheim as the “shared beliefs, values, symbols, ideas, and cognitive categories that are produced by a society rather than any single individual”. Sometimes I wonder whether it is the growing dependence on devices (that do much of our thinking for us) which is at the root of the problem. There is also the factor of a prescriptive government which would rather deal with compliant citizens than questioning ones. People become habituated to just following orders and of course there is always the fear of being penalised if they don’t.
Instead of trying to analyze the reasons for the current state of affairs I will just narrate my observations of the young. I find that as a rule; few students know how to critique. They either “like” or “dislike”, “love” or “hate”. With regard to literary works, they study ready-made critiques and are unable to give a balanced view of any issue independently. Leave alone students, even teachers do not like commenting on any colleague’s work, and if a teacher is required to do so, her account never reflects an honest opinion. I don’t think people realise how important it is to hold a balanced view of an issue or of a topic and to be able to express it clearly when required.
Then there is this confusion between opinion and fact. All the time we are subjected to opinions being paraded as facts. Hans Rosling’s Factfulness propagates the theory that you can live in hope if you develop “the stress-reducing habit of only holding on to opinions for which you have strong supporting facts”.
Any statement — especially a sweeping one — uttered without any evidence does not deserve serious consideration. For example, we often hear people say that women are better at multitasking than men. What is the basis for this claim? Or X is the best restaurant in town or Y is the best school in the country. Even if rankings of institutions are published, we should know how they were arrived at. Also, we should be suspicious of statements beginning with “everybody” or “nobody”.
It is a fact and not an opinion that criticism is required for any kind of improvement. This factual statement can be proved with simple logic. If flaws are not pointed out, how can they be rectified? Of course, the will to improve has to be there and perhaps it is not desirable that one to should be content with whatever one does.
The above point brings me to another feature of the society we live in: People in general have become overly sensitive. It is seldom that you come across people who respond robustly and constructively to criticism or even take kindly to it. As a consequence, people have stopped criticising altogether; the tendency is to please everyone. In the social media culture of “likes”, you are obliged to register your “like” for every post that is put up by your acquaintances. If you don’t, they will be offended and some may even ‘unfriend’ you. People seem to be confusing criticism with disapproval.
In school, I have noticed that teachers are reluctant to criticise in a straightforward manner. Their words are couched in euphemisms and terms of kindness with the end result that the student is not clear about the shortcomings of her work.
When we criticise, it should not be from a position of bias. And though it is difficult, we should critique dispassionately, that is, without letting emotions get in the way.
Some of the principles of balanced critiquing require us to be objective, specific and constructive. The critic must be respectful, clear and empathetic. Effective criticism requires the critic to recognise and acknowledge strengths as well as weaknesses. As stated earlier, personal feelings have to be consciously kept out, in order to arrive at a fair assessment of the object of criticism.
It is because we have lost the art of elegant critiquing, that we tend to demonstrate an all-or-none approach towards any individual, political party, a new idea and so on. Instead of expressing an opinion objectively, people have taken to making caustic remarks and personal attacks. I happened to listen to the American vice-president, J.D. Vance, telling an opponent to keep his (Vance’s) wife’s name “the hell out of his mouth”. There is nothing wrong in what Vance was wanting to say but the way it came out indicated an immature outburst.
The use of foul language just shows an absence of sound points of criticism. In any case, we live in an age when criticism is not tolerated. We witness syrupy and sickening sycophancy all around. Employees wish to please their boss, party members flatter their political leaders, film actors their directors and producers, team members their captains and teachers their principals. Again, criticism is expressed through group protests or through anonymous letters. The reason for this reluctance to be frank may stem from a fear of being victimised by the person criticised.
In this context it has to be acknowledged that facing and processing criticism is extremely difficult especially for those who are used to being praised. I have observed that school students who are high achievers and are used to high praise and felicitations visibly crumble if they are reprimanded. However, it is extremely important to be able to accept criticism.
That said, criticism has to be done well with the purpose of improving the process of thinking. There is an important distinction between criticism and condemnation. Unfortunately, nowadays, criticising is equated with ‘running down’; yet criticising and being criticised are the twin hallmarks of a civilised, democratic society.
