Unconstructive Criticism

What is the number one way of irritating yourself beyond belief? Sand in the underwear? Driving on the M25 during rush hour? Reading the Twilight books? All good candidates but none claim the honour of the number one spot, which is taken, drum roll please..... by reading the comments on a YouTube video!

Oh yes, I think we can all agree that the comments on a YouTube video usually contain more spite, anger and outright hatred than the BNP's Christmas party at the local takeway. So let's take a look an example, a YouTube video of a song that is fast becoming one of my favourites, and can be viewed here. 'New Slang' by The Shins, a great song which is associated in my head with purely good times. In truth though my opinion of the song is irrelevant, but it is worth mentioning that there is nothing in the lyrics or the video that is overtly offensive or controversial. Anyway, let's have a look at a few comments that sit hidden on this (mostly positive) page.

'Hate this fucking band. Hate this album. Hate fucking indie music. Hate subpop records. Why the fuck am I here and commenting on this ??'


A pertinent point at the end there, why the fuck are they commenting on this? Look at what they say, they 'hate this album', if they hate the album as a whole then they must have heard this song before they watched it on YouTube, so why are they watching it in the first place? If they hate it that much and it annoys them enough to comment on, then why go out of their way to make themselves angry? That's just perverse.

I've decided to describe this kind of comment as a 'Type One' comment, it is entirely in the negative, it is a straight out dislike of the video content. Which leads to what I now choose to describe as a 'Type Two' comment which goes something like:

'i mean this is no waka flaka, drake, or dub-step so I can understand why the kids nowa days don't 'get it.' It's about the LYRICS as much the music. It's hard to realize when you're used to such shitty lyrics'

A comment that defends the video, a good intention that all too often turns awry, you can't win an argument by patronising the person ('It's about the LYRICS as much as the music') and then simply criticising their taste in music in return ('when you're used to such shitty lyrics'), so this is not the sophisticated debate that we could hope for, one that calmly listens to one person's perspective and politely disagrees by stating clearly another perspective. No, this is something much more angry and vitriolic, it is reactive and emotional and therefore useless in any real debate.

So, Types One and Two boil down to bickering, a childlike 'your video is shit', 'yeah well, your videos are even shittier'. Type three, however, purports to take a much higher ground, a typical example being:

'who the fuck cares if people dislike a video I don't even pay attention to that shit'

The gist of this comment makes sense, why should we worry who dislikes this video, for that matter we shouldn't worry about who likes this video, we should just enjoy it, or not, and if we don't then we can always switch off. But this comment fails as a valid criticism for two reasons, firstly it's too angry, the tone does not invite agreement even if you happen to agree with it; the writer not only alienates themselves from the people they are arguing with, but also the other views of the video. This is compounded by the second part of the sentence, 'I don't even pay attention to that shit', the 'I' singles the writer out and the rest of the sentence displays an attempt to elevate themselves above the rest. The end result of this is just more alienation, but I think it also displays an ego that I secretly suspect is behind the writing of the comment in the first place.

Ego, essentially this is what is behind all of these comments, a desperation to be heard and to find validation in being so (trust me, I know about these things, I write a blog for Christ's sake!) and this always comes from insecurity. The problem is made worse by the fact that there is no real accountability for what you write on YouTube or any other forum. It's easy to forget, or underestimate, the power of face to face, or at least vocal, communication. It forces amongst most people a degree of civility that should not be underestimated or dismissed as a vital part of human communication (I may go into the importance if good manners some other time, as for now I've gone on for long enough). In future generations I am sure that historians and sociologists will talk of a 'technological revolution' that changed how humans interacted, debated and related with each, how certain boundaries were torn down and different ones were put in their place, and they will do all this much more knowledgeably, effectively and succinctly than I could ever possibly hope to , but I do believe that the sheer vitriolic nature of the comments that can be seen on YouTube (against which the ones I have used seem positively Edwardian in their manners) are a sign of a negative consequence from this technological revolution. For all its benefits, and there are thousands, this complication of basic human interaction will certainly have unforeseen circumstances.

Anyways, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. To rest your eyes here's a picture of a puppy:

Much love, 

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