[mcgwiz]

I didn't take away from the article a denouncement of all criticism. Perhaps I read into it what I believe, or was more charitable/liberal in interpreting/extrapolating the intended meaning from the clumsy wording.

Either way, my take away was that honest feedback and delivery/tone are orthogonal. You can be harsh in your feedback/criticism/expression-of-opinion, or you can do so in a way that disarms the other and is trust-building. The former is more likely to be ignored or misinterpreted, the latter is more likely to be understood. (The article presupposes this, and I agree. And one person's ability to take harsh criticism well does not translate to people receiving harsh criticism from that person also having the ability to take it well.)

If and only if you cannot find a way to convey your feedback in a trust-building way, the author asserts that your will be counter-productive in helping the other. Thus there are practical benefits to remaining silent, including: save your time/energy, not risk burning a bridge, not pointlessly inflict emotional harm (ok, the last one is not so practical as it is considerate).

But that's a very specific and unlikely circumstance, and the author explains in the article many simple techniques not to find yourself in such a circumstance.

[jsonmez]

Exactly, only you speak much more eloquently and precise than myself. Well put.