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by sverona 1120 days ago
By god, that's Deleuze's music!

I disagree that the code I write is "part of me." It expresses a series of ideas that I had. And every therapeutic modality I have tried would have failed if I didn't have the implicit understanding that I have something like a soul or an essence that stands apart from my thoughts and feelings. My thoughts are just random noise in the grand scheme of things, including this sentence.

I can't stand the way that some people write, but that doesn't amount to a criticism of them as a person, unless I choose to make it about that.

1 comments

Sure you're not criticizing them as a person, but let's say they really like what they wrote. It's their masterpiece. Then someone comes in and says it's garbage that shouldn't have been written (intentionally using strong language because people do that).

I don't understand not feeling bummed out by that type of critique. Sure it's not about you as a person or your values, but dang that sucks.

"Garbage that shouldn't have been written" is verging on a personal insult. That's not the kind of criticism I had in mind.
Got it, I agree that's a harsh example I wrote.

When I read "I can't stand the way some people write", I get a similar sort of feeling. The intention is not that it is a harsh statement, but to me it's very harsh (although not on the same level as the example I wrote).

To me, this highlights the problem with criticism and why the thread is a bit divisive. It's a gap between intention and perception with different end results based on how feedback is perceived.