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nuance and DIALECTICAL thought are key

and that’s the problem, people sometimes lack the nuance that’s essential to well rounded critical thought and engagement. as an hbo prestige television enjoyer, i love a morally gray or even deplorable character as long as the subject material treats the character with the “don’t condemn OR condone” mentality. the same goes for literature imo. its also largely dependent on the context in which the work is being taught (not so much when it was made bc “it was a different time” usually ends up adding fodder to frustrating arguments). for example, junior year of high school i found it really odd that my white teacher decided to use of mice and men to chastise the use of the n word, to a class of mainly black students. very weird and also not the point of the book (but she got better after this and instilled a lot of good stuff in my brain).
again, not to link this to the arts as a whole, but i feel the separating the art from the artist narrative exacerbates this as well. nothing is wrong with enjoying work from a morally dubious person but i think separating their art from their morals is a weird way of engaging with work. another example: a musician i really loved who was found out to have very off putting (borderline illegal) behavior towards women but from time to time i will play a song for old times sake. however when i listen, oftentimes i realize, yes these ARE the lyrics of a man who does not take rejection well. the work exists in the contexts of the authors morals but you aren’t and don’t need to be waving a flag saying “I CONDONE EVERYTHING IN THIS WORK”.
all in all, a huge key to engaging with classic lit critically is being comfortable with (not sure comfortable is the best term. familiar, maybe?) with gray area and be ready to navigate accordingly.

@deardoveswings

May 9, 2024

1

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Critiquing something/someone only from a place of understanding

A brief anecdote to preface this (skip to get straight to the philosophy): Today a team member and I (building a business) met with an expert in his respective field to ask some questions. After a little explanatory back-and-forth, it was clear he had a complete lack of knowledge of our sector, and had only understood the description of our project on a superficial level. Nonetheless, he proceeded to spend most of the time “pushing back”, and therefore was unable to offer much insight that we could use. ———— Critique/judgment without understanding is invalid – period. This is confusing to some critics/would-be critics/people because they conflate the accumulation of knowledge with the skill of understanding. Let’s say you’re a music critic – you know lots of stuff about many kinds of music, many eras, etc. One day something comes along your desk, you pop it on, and it sounds a bit odd. You’ve never heard of the artist before… it sounds vaguely similar to something you know of – sure, let’s compare it to that, I guess. In this moment, you may not realize that you have a blindspot. Maybe you don’t yet understand the cultural or aesthetic movement this piece of music is born from because it doesn’t overlap with your breadth of knowledge (even if it’s very wide). Your prior knowledge may inform your ability to understand, but it doesn’t replace it. A real critic will take the time, as their duty, to understand as best they can before they make any critique. Anyone else isn’t a real critic. This goes for everything and everyone, not just professional or expert criticism. It’s true on an individual level, a social/cultural level, a political level, etc. Now especially, everyone’s a critic – and that’s both great and terrible/terrifying. Criticism/judgment are perfectly valid and useful forms of human expression if and only if you seek to understand beforehand. So, we can think about that from the perspective of giving criticism and, of course, receiving it. Being open to criticism is a massively important quality to develop, but if someone hasn’t made an effort to understand you/your idea, their critiques can go into the trash can. 🚮 ———— 🩵🩵

@solomonki

Jun 4, 2024

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I think snark is a symptom of late-stage irony poisoning

where people are afraid to connect in a genuine way for fear of rejection. but also it serves as a more socially acceptable outlet for the impulse to engage in cruelty (especially for women). People often justify this behavior with the rationalization that the target of their ire is morally impure or has committed wrongs against others, or that the ‘snarkers’ are doing a public service as somebody has to knock these people down a peg. I also think people want to be critics but don’t understand the true value of criticism. I do sense a changing tide so here‘s hoping

@taterhole

May 8, 2024

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Top Recs from @marxinista

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being a nerd about stuff

being traditionally cool is really quite boring and iterative, and it’s actually very cool and sexy to geek out about something you like or share bits of knowledge on a topic you’re passionate about

@marxinista

Aug 17, 2024

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MAY DAY

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WORKER’S DAY!!!! i love having a union, i love being a union steward and getting to support my unit. when my union won its contract, i got a pay bump, better benefits, and increased protection as a worker. 🥳 unions help address racial and gender pay gaps, issues workplaces impose on families and those having kids, addressing unsafe conditions, plus things like better health insurance, wages and overtime, weingarten rights to representation, and more!!! if you don’t have a union but are thinking about forming one, check out AFL-CIO’s page (linked) or Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. there’s always more power in a union!! ✊🥖🌹

@marxinista

May 1, 2025

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BOOKSHOP.ORG

they have FREE SHIPPING through Friday (7/8-7/11) if you are thinking about buying a book online this week, please buy a book there instead of evil amazon dot com. bookshop benefits local indie bookstores! you also can pick which specific bookstore to support and they have many lgbt-, women-, and bipoc-owned shops listed :) also they now have ebooks and many are on sale, such as Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower + Talents, Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, or Talia Lavin’s Wild Faith for under $3 (!) each

@marxinista

Jul 8, 2025

2

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