Disclaimer: The title image is not an example of the type of feedback that I am referring to in this article. I just thought it was cute.
Folks,
This posting is in response to commentary and feedback I have noticed recently on this forum that, while possibly well-meant, may in fact come across to the recipient otherwise. It is all in the wording and especially the tone of the feedback.
I do my best not to criticize the author, or those who comment in response, with respect to how the article or commentary was written. If I ever do anything that looks anything like that, it is almost certainly in jest (and not in the sense of making fun of the author), and I also try my best to make it clear that it is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. (Wink, wink. You know what I mean. We’re both in on the joke and it’s not at anyone’s expense.)
I spent a few hours composing and then extensively editing this article—my mother was at one time in my youth a proofreader, so maybe some of it rubbed off on me—and I just want you to know that my intent is not to piss anyone off, or to come off looking like I’m on my high horse, or anything like that.
And if you have read this far, I hope you can give the whole article a read, because the musings later on may possibly have some pertinence to what this forum is about.
So here are some possible scenarios where what is presumably meant as “helpful” feedback may be misconstrued, followed by some other musings that came up as I was writing this:
- I really don’t think the person who wrote the feedback got the tone of what I wrote, i.e., I thought what I wrote was obviously tongue-in-cheek and it was meant—obviously, I thought—to be humorous. I therefore question, based on the wording and tone of the feedback, whether the commentator has much of a sense of humor. In any case, not the same sense that I have. Which is of course not a requirement.
- For anyone on this forum, for the record, I have never said I was a journalist; in fact, my handle has OpEd in it. So if your comments are about “journalistic style” or something like that, you are probably barking up the wrong tree. I reserve the right to write what I wish, as I wish, just as long as it’s not in violation of any rules or bylaws of this website.
- If you want to lay some Lit Crit stuff on me, telling me essentially how sophomoric or whatever my writing is, that is just to me a form of passive aggressiveness, and that is just you trying to prove your superiority. I don’t do that myself, or at least I try not to, unless of course it’s in jest, as noted above, and then, in general, I try to make that obvious. But other than the humor side of things, I do not tell people how to write whatever it is they want to write. And I would expect and hope the same of others.
- I have seen some examples of writing in this forum that weren’t particularly well thought out or interesting—only in my opinion, for whatever it’s worth (which is probably nothing)—regardless of what the topic was, and regardless of whether it was journalism or anything else. But I do my level-headed best not to express those sorts of opinions when I post feedback to the author, if I do. Such opinions are inconsequential, so I keep them to myself. The only thing relevant in the article in question is whatever news, facts, perspective, etc., that the author was trying to impart. If there is nothing there for me, I simply move on. If there’s drivel, I’m usually savvy enough to skip over it to see if there’s any substance that’s relevant to me later on in the article.
- For the record, I have a Ph.D. in music composition, with both degrees previous to that in piano performance. I also have what I consider to be a fairly extensive grasp and command of the English language, although some might dispute that. I don’t necessarily need any feedback from any of you on this forum if that’s what you think. You’re not going to insult me if you give me such feedback, you’re most likely just going to prove to me that you have nothing better to do with your time, apparently.
- I am fairly well-read, and I have a pretty extensive as yet unpublished collection of fiction, poetry, and essays I’ve written myself. I enjoy working with all facets of language, and I bring to my writing my musical training; and an intense love of language; and a fascination with the more “colorful”—and humorous—aspects of how people express themselves; and my experiences in experimental music and other such experimental art forms; and also a love of etymology; and... The list goes on and on.
- If you don’t like how I write, you don’t need to read any of it. No one’s forcing you to, as far as I know. And you won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t read my materials.
- I’m not looking to be part of any clique, faction, popularity club, etc., or to go viral or whatever. I’m here just to give my hopefully well-reasoned input in these difficult times, and (hopefully) impart some useful information or ideas on occasion.
- In these times, as some have commented to me, and to many others, a sense of humor is very important, just to get through the day. Wouldn't you agree?
- I have published articles on this forum covering quite a few different areas of interest. Thus far, they include among them at least the following: political commentary, opinion, and even an occasional useful news-related item; translations and adaptations of short stories by Franz Kafka; original poetry and short stories of mine; food articles, both cooking- and baking-related; original digital artwork that I created using an Android app I designed and programmed myself, including all the graphics and the user interface design. I don’t know if that covers it to date, but you get the gist. I have a fairly wide variety of interests and I like to change things up just to keep sane. And hopefully to help others do the same.
- Related to the previous comment, it was never my understanding that this forum was only for politically-related matters. In fact, I think it’s especially crucial that we keep (at least in part, maybe even substantially) a humanities and arts thread going, not to mention artisanal efforts, the sciences, philosophy, etc. One of my critiques of our present society is that these facets of our human society, our culture, are so often minimized and marginalized in favor of that insane greedy pursuit of the almighty dollar to the exclusion of nearly everything else that would otherwise more truly define our society and our humanity. Absent these and similar facets of our human adventure, it’s just a meaningless empty game of rich people counting their dollars and rubles and kopeks, oh my!; gathering ever more useless wealth and stuff and power until their inevitable deathbed moments; and meanwhile telling the rest of us to buzz off because we don’t matter in the least to them. Look at the present “majority” “leadership” and to all those oligarchs, foreign and domestic, all those who would exploit others even to death just to play their game of “the one with the most stuff wins.” You need not look any further.
- We need to be having some pretty heavy, deep discussions about what we’d really like this society to look like going forward, and in light of such desires, what kinds of policies would best serve our at least somewhat collective visions of how we’d like things to be. There are many more of us than there are of them—and I presume you can figure out more or less who “them” refers to—and they should not be dictating the terms of how our economic system is structured, nor how we live our lives (within the constraints of our legal system etc.), nor which form, if any, of religion or spiritual practice we believe in or participate in (within reasonable bounds, of course, considering the sorts of nefarious activities that have happened in the name of religion over the centuries and millennia), nor who is to live or die because our health care system is now so obviously broken... The list goes on and on. In my first posting on this forum, May 27th this year, I tried to start such a conversation, but it didn’t really seem to go anywhere. Not yet, anyway. Hopefully we can take up that thread or something similar very soon.
Whew! That was a mouthful!
DrBobOpEd