A culture of criticism

I'm unsure if this is a newer phenomenon or if the world has always been this way but I find myself constantly baffled by our culture of criticism. While I find myself often awed by a TV show/movie/book, others question my good sense. While I am thrilled with the excellent care my dentist takes of me, I am appalled by her terrible one-star Yelp reviews. When did we stop focusing on the good? A few examples I have noticed recently:

I recently finished watching Season 4 of Torchwood. I, quite intentionally, do not read internet reviews  so, after raving about it on Facebook, was a little taken aback when a friend wanted to speak to me because they had never heard of anyone who liked it before. Do these things really matter so much to people? If one person likes a show or an episode of a show or a documentary or a movie or a book that you did not particularly enjoy (or vice versa), does that make their judgment unsound or their taste less sophisticated than your own? Then when I started reading reviews (just to see what it was that people were complaining about), I still found myself baffled. Many people seemed to be disgusted by the unrealistic nature of the story line. Dear sci-fi watchers: Sci-fi is short for science-fiction. The wonderful thing about fiction is that the writers have artistic license to make things as real or outlandish as they happen to want. If they haven't explained all their logic to you yet, it is just possible that they have an idea to reveal their hand further down the line. 

I also recently went on a group outing to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Several other friends also went to see the movie over their Christmas vacations. Many people loved the movie while a small, yet vocal, number had nothing but terrible things to say about it. What people seem to forget when watching these kind of movies is that they are an adaptation of a book. It is not an exact replica of the book. Again, the screen writers are perfectly within their rights to take artistic license and make changes to make the book flow better as a movie. Now, if we're talking about the recent Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader where pretty much the only thing they got right was that the story took place on a boat called Dawn Treader, then carp away. However, if most of the essential story points are there and they have even been kind enough to add in supplemental material for the real nerds and the acting is good and there are relatively few slow points, then exactly what is it that we're still complaining about?

On a related but different area, my dentist. Dr. Nancy Block, DDS. I signed up with her through my insurance without really doing much research mostly because I wanted a female dentist. I had not been to a dentist in nearly ten years and I was truly terrified to go in and was sure I was going to have a mouthful of cavities and the worst experience ever. And then, a few weeks before my first appointment, I made the mistake of reading her Yelp reviews. These people were vicious. It seems that many a person thought that Dr. Block was a cold-hearted ice queen with no people skills who didn't know how to do her job. As I sat in her office, shaking with my sense of impending doom, I filled out paperwork. One of the questions that immediately jumped out at me was "Do you have any fears or concerns that you would like the doctor to take into consideration?" This is not a usual question and I felt my fears begin to subside ever so slightly. When she entered my room, before she even asked me to open my mouth and say "Ah", she first had a chat with me about my apprehension and immediately relieved every fear I had ever had of going to the dentist. Two years later, she continues to be an incredibly encouraging person to go to twice a year. All of those bad attitude reviewers can suck on my complete lack of fear of the dentist.

So next time you're setting out on a bitchy rant about a doctor, a restaurant, a movie, a book, or whatever you want to rant about, do me a few favors. Stop. Breathe. Sleep on it. Take a second look at your experience. Suspend your disbelief. Try to look at things from the good side first. I'm willing to bet when you start thinking about the number of things that were well done, they'll probably outnumber the things that you were being so overly critical about and maybe, just maybe, you can try to add a little extra positivity to the world instead of another dose of unneeded grouchiness.