I like this and how you expand on a Brandon Taylor's essay and your own feelings of anxiety. Which are valid and familiar.
It becomes impossible to write if you let your inner critic read over your shoulder, and worrying that you will be perceived from that prosecutorial view has our inner critics on high alert. Editing our work with empathy for others is critical, but you are not alone in worrying that everything you write will be assumed to be hurtful and voices with malice, or worse, indifference or ignorance to the experiences of others. I think this kind of prosecutorial reading has been weaponized with the intent of making valid criticism irrelevant.
Thank you, Thomas! Yes, I think that the inner critic is certainly there, but the inner critic is masquerading as an outer critic, or the fear of the outer critic, as you're saying... It's frustrating, for sure.
Although I will say that I don't know that the prosecutorial reading has been weaponized in such a deliberate manner. I mean, sure, some people certainly weaponize it strategically. But I think the vast majority of readers learned at some point (probably from being on the internet and on social media platforms like tumblr, which was once very "gotcha"-mentality as well, and now twitter) that this was the correct or even moral way to approach literature, and there's so many people who are afraid of their own ignorance and thus follow what they learn from others they perceive as being more educated or simply more certain, and end up sort of not reading between the lines of why that criticism is occurring or what it might be missing.
Really enjoyed this Ilana. Thank you! And congrats on passing your oral exams.
Sorry you've been feeling anxious. I think we all do. It's a pretty fraught atmosphere online and in the twitterverse - there's a real 'gotcha' vibe at the moment in the way that people take joy in / pile on to people saying the wrong thing or expressing themselves clumsily. I've really felt sad about the lack of generosity in how we interpret each other's comments. No wonder we're all cowering a bit. I mean, even when I send a text message to a friend with a joke or some kind of acerbic remark, I kind of have to give myself a pep talk along the lines of 'this person knows you to be a friendly well-meaning person; he/she will interpret what you've said in the spirit it was intended; no need to apologise and over-explain yourself' etc etc. Ergh!
Thanks and look forward to hearing about what books you're reading :)
Thank you for reading, Tash! Yes, I do think that there's a "gotcha" vibe, for sure, and I really wish that I knew how to face that better and just care less about the people who feel the need to "gotcha" others. And I totally hear you on the text message thing, I do the same thing, often!
I like this and how you expand on a Brandon Taylor's essay and your own feelings of anxiety. Which are valid and familiar.
It becomes impossible to write if you let your inner critic read over your shoulder, and worrying that you will be perceived from that prosecutorial view has our inner critics on high alert. Editing our work with empathy for others is critical, but you are not alone in worrying that everything you write will be assumed to be hurtful and voices with malice, or worse, indifference or ignorance to the experiences of others. I think this kind of prosecutorial reading has been weaponized with the intent of making valid criticism irrelevant.
Thank you, Thomas! Yes, I think that the inner critic is certainly there, but the inner critic is masquerading as an outer critic, or the fear of the outer critic, as you're saying... It's frustrating, for sure.
Although I will say that I don't know that the prosecutorial reading has been weaponized in such a deliberate manner. I mean, sure, some people certainly weaponize it strategically. But I think the vast majority of readers learned at some point (probably from being on the internet and on social media platforms like tumblr, which was once very "gotcha"-mentality as well, and now twitter) that this was the correct or even moral way to approach literature, and there's so many people who are afraid of their own ignorance and thus follow what they learn from others they perceive as being more educated or simply more certain, and end up sort of not reading between the lines of why that criticism is occurring or what it might be missing.
Really enjoyed this Ilana. Thank you! And congrats on passing your oral exams.
Sorry you've been feeling anxious. I think we all do. It's a pretty fraught atmosphere online and in the twitterverse - there's a real 'gotcha' vibe at the moment in the way that people take joy in / pile on to people saying the wrong thing or expressing themselves clumsily. I've really felt sad about the lack of generosity in how we interpret each other's comments. No wonder we're all cowering a bit. I mean, even when I send a text message to a friend with a joke or some kind of acerbic remark, I kind of have to give myself a pep talk along the lines of 'this person knows you to be a friendly well-meaning person; he/she will interpret what you've said in the spirit it was intended; no need to apologise and over-explain yourself' etc etc. Ergh!
Thanks and look forward to hearing about what books you're reading :)
Thank you for reading, Tash! Yes, I do think that there's a "gotcha" vibe, for sure, and I really wish that I knew how to face that better and just care less about the people who feel the need to "gotcha" others. And I totally hear you on the text message thing, I do the same thing, often!