Constructive criticism vs. Being a hater
Jul 20, 2017 16:22:19 GMT -5
FreakyFlyBry and Matt like this
Post by JessieLou on Jul 20, 2017 16:22:19 GMT -5
Hey guys,
One of the biggest criticisms this board has had over the years is that there isn't enough discussion. Well, I would like to open up a discussion, and ironically enough, it's about criticism - when is it justified, and when does it stop being criticism and is just plain hurtful?
I've always been very passionate about the music I like and dislike, between the rant segments on the JT30 Countdown show and even the token bad songs on The Book Club, but no matter how much I may joke, I never said anything to intentionally hurt or offend the target (the only possible exception I can think of was in 2011 when I went out of my way to pick on Fergie, but even that had more to do with my piece of shit ex-boyfriend than her). Things like Making Kanye Mad and the token bad song are nothing but joking around and entertainment, but when does it stop being joking around and starts becoming hurtful? How can one tell when the barrier is broken?
There have been two times over the years where this crossed my mind - I, like everyone else at the time, joked about Britney Spears' public breakdown and thought it was just a ploy for attention, but after her and her child were hospitalized in early 2008, I became very concerned and was afraid she would die. I was an ignorant teenager who wasn't aware of mental illness and after that happened, the jokes stopped immediately. The other time where this crossed my mind was in 2013 when Amanda Bynes had her meltdown. I honestly thought she was trolling on Twitter when she was calling everyone and their Mom "ugly" and said she wanted Drake to murder her vagina, but after she was arrested for throwing a bong out of her apartment, that made me realize there was seriously something wrong with her and I even told Unkie to remove any Amanda Bynes jokes in the Jessica's Top 40: 10 Years Of Awesomeness special. Aside from that, I didn’t REALLY start thinking about it until last year when Prince died.
I absolutely HATE IT when people tear a celebrity apart and the second they die they’re nice to them. For example: pretty much every celebrity after Michael Jackson’s death. But despite never intentionally trying to attack him, I did feel guilt when Prince died, and honestly, while I’m not the biggest fan of his, I really didn’t hate him THAT much. All the Prince ranting started in 2005 after I discovered “P. Control” while playing The Launch Game with FreakyFlyBry, Bebe Reptar, and Courage, and then shortly after that “Black Sweat” came out, and voila, it began. It’s pretty stupid that I wrote an artist off so quickly, especially someone with a huge discography like his, over TWO SONGS. I heard the full version of “Purple Rain” for the first time recently and realized what an excellent song it actually is, but I digress. The day he died I had a conversation with Unkie – we both agreed to discontinue the “Monkeying Around” segment on the countdown show, where I would make a rant about Prince. But I also wanted to discontinue “That Break Between #20 and #19 Where I Make Fun Of George Michael” and even considered discontinuing “Making Kanye Mad” because of the guilt I was feeling – how would I feel if George or Kanye were to go?
The same conversation came up again a couple months later after George Michael passed away, and just like with Prince, I didn’t dislike him THAT much, in 2006 I was listening to 80’s music more and more and was sick of hearing “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” and “Careless Whisper” every hour on my local Hot AC station’s 80’s weekends, and that’s how that began. But when you think about it, there are several songs of his I have admitted to liking over the years – “Father Figure”, “Last Christmas”, “The Edge Of Heaven”, “Fastlove”, “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”, and most recently “Praying For Time”. Again, I never had any intention of hurting anyone’s feelings, but his death did make me feel very guilty. He had a history of drug and alcohol problems, what if he did that stuff because of people like me who made fun of him?
I am starting to feel this guilt yet again over Chester Bennington’s death – especially because of how he died. Many of us on this board over the last few months have trashed and made fun of Linkin Park’s more pop direction on their latest album and have uttered the phrase “f*ck Heavy” on pretty much a weekly basis. Many articles have come out about Chester saying things like “fans need to move the f*ck on from Hybrid Theory” and he was overall extremely defensive of the new music. And it has got me thinking – what if all the people who reacted negatively to “Heavy” and the band’s new direction drove him to commit suicide? Would he still be with us today if we all just said “Hey, this is too different from “In The End” and “One Step Closer” and isn’t my cup of tea, but best to luck to them and good for them for trying something new!”
I’m sorry for the essay and possible word vomiting, I just had a lot to say and didn’t know where to begin. The point of this post is – what constitutes as constructive criticism and/or fun joking around, and what is considered going too far? I’d like to think I’m not like one of those disgusting Twitter trolls who tells celebrities they don’t like to kill themselves, but right now I’m feeling pretty crappy for the shit-talking I’ve done about Linkin Park over the last six months.
One of the biggest criticisms this board has had over the years is that there isn't enough discussion. Well, I would like to open up a discussion, and ironically enough, it's about criticism - when is it justified, and when does it stop being criticism and is just plain hurtful?
I've always been very passionate about the music I like and dislike, between the rant segments on the JT30 Countdown show and even the token bad songs on The Book Club, but no matter how much I may joke, I never said anything to intentionally hurt or offend the target (the only possible exception I can think of was in 2011 when I went out of my way to pick on Fergie, but even that had more to do with my piece of shit ex-boyfriend than her). Things like Making Kanye Mad and the token bad song are nothing but joking around and entertainment, but when does it stop being joking around and starts becoming hurtful? How can one tell when the barrier is broken?
There have been two times over the years where this crossed my mind - I, like everyone else at the time, joked about Britney Spears' public breakdown and thought it was just a ploy for attention, but after her and her child were hospitalized in early 2008, I became very concerned and was afraid she would die. I was an ignorant teenager who wasn't aware of mental illness and after that happened, the jokes stopped immediately. The other time where this crossed my mind was in 2013 when Amanda Bynes had her meltdown. I honestly thought she was trolling on Twitter when she was calling everyone and their Mom "ugly" and said she wanted Drake to murder her vagina, but after she was arrested for throwing a bong out of her apartment, that made me realize there was seriously something wrong with her and I even told Unkie to remove any Amanda Bynes jokes in the Jessica's Top 40: 10 Years Of Awesomeness special. Aside from that, I didn’t REALLY start thinking about it until last year when Prince died.
I absolutely HATE IT when people tear a celebrity apart and the second they die they’re nice to them. For example: pretty much every celebrity after Michael Jackson’s death. But despite never intentionally trying to attack him, I did feel guilt when Prince died, and honestly, while I’m not the biggest fan of his, I really didn’t hate him THAT much. All the Prince ranting started in 2005 after I discovered “P. Control” while playing The Launch Game with FreakyFlyBry, Bebe Reptar, and Courage, and then shortly after that “Black Sweat” came out, and voila, it began. It’s pretty stupid that I wrote an artist off so quickly, especially someone with a huge discography like his, over TWO SONGS. I heard the full version of “Purple Rain” for the first time recently and realized what an excellent song it actually is, but I digress. The day he died I had a conversation with Unkie – we both agreed to discontinue the “Monkeying Around” segment on the countdown show, where I would make a rant about Prince. But I also wanted to discontinue “That Break Between #20 and #19 Where I Make Fun Of George Michael” and even considered discontinuing “Making Kanye Mad” because of the guilt I was feeling – how would I feel if George or Kanye were to go?
The same conversation came up again a couple months later after George Michael passed away, and just like with Prince, I didn’t dislike him THAT much, in 2006 I was listening to 80’s music more and more and was sick of hearing “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” and “Careless Whisper” every hour on my local Hot AC station’s 80’s weekends, and that’s how that began. But when you think about it, there are several songs of his I have admitted to liking over the years – “Father Figure”, “Last Christmas”, “The Edge Of Heaven”, “Fastlove”, “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”, and most recently “Praying For Time”. Again, I never had any intention of hurting anyone’s feelings, but his death did make me feel very guilty. He had a history of drug and alcohol problems, what if he did that stuff because of people like me who made fun of him?
I am starting to feel this guilt yet again over Chester Bennington’s death – especially because of how he died. Many of us on this board over the last few months have trashed and made fun of Linkin Park’s more pop direction on their latest album and have uttered the phrase “f*ck Heavy” on pretty much a weekly basis. Many articles have come out about Chester saying things like “fans need to move the f*ck on from Hybrid Theory” and he was overall extremely defensive of the new music. And it has got me thinking – what if all the people who reacted negatively to “Heavy” and the band’s new direction drove him to commit suicide? Would he still be with us today if we all just said “Hey, this is too different from “In The End” and “One Step Closer” and isn’t my cup of tea, but best to luck to them and good for them for trying something new!”
I’m sorry for the essay and possible word vomiting, I just had a lot to say and didn’t know where to begin. The point of this post is – what constitutes as constructive criticism and/or fun joking around, and what is considered going too far? I’d like to think I’m not like one of those disgusting Twitter trolls who tells celebrities they don’t like to kill themselves, but right now I’m feeling pretty crappy for the shit-talking I’ve done about Linkin Park over the last six months.