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by carussell 3205 days ago
Constructive criticism is not the same thing as positivism—especially unconditional positivism. Withholding advice because it might sound negative is the opposite of constructive.

Saying, "don't do that; you'll die!" is almost always constructive, for example. Imagine being told to bite your tongue and be supportive after your friend has announced their intent to run through traffic to get to the shop across the street.

1 comments

Nah, "don't do that; you'll die because you may get hit by traffic!" is constructive criticism. You have to give a reason for your positivity or negativity.
I don't think we're going to agree if you think that "don't do that; you'll die!" is unconstructive hate speech and better left unsaid.
It's not hate speech, but definitely not constructive. And whether it's best left unsaid depends on the situation. Your street-crosser probably hasn't invested hours upon hours of time on researching and developing how they're going to run across the street.