Everyone is a Critic These Days | The Baby Bloomer

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.”

Benjamin Franklin

Have you noticed that these days everyone is a critic?

And with the advent of social media-and the fact that everyone also seems to be a writer or an artist these days-criticism is a constant. It has become pretty lethal and almost a spectator sport.

People can be trashed for almost anything, from swipes about lack of knowledge to negative reviews of talent and abilities to judgments about appearance to rants about opinions and beliefs. Being alive in 2020 means the possibility of being hit by wave after wave of criticism, both online and off.

Add the relatively recent belief that anyone can publicly say whatever they like, and the resulting clamor of insults, derision, and invective can sometimes feel overpowering.

Writers and others who create (including travel bloggers like me) must be courageous to send their work out into the world. If they are too sensitive to deal with the onslaught, their work may simply never be seen. For those who do create, remembering that criticism is…