The Relentless Criticism of Everything

There seems to be some sort of cultural expectation of perfection. There's a national obsession with watch-dogging companies and individuals, waiting for the slightest sign of a misstep or failure. As soon as there is a perceived mistake, the lawsuits explode and the PR machines begin grinding out sound bites and pundit talking points.

Cable news has done a lot to aid and abet the relentless criticism of everything. For twenty four hours a day, there is only so much non-repetitive programming. In between breaking news, helicopter coverage of California car chases, and U.S. troop body counts in Iraq, they have to fill the gap with something. That something is composed of pundits, commentators, and professional critics that fall under the blanket term, "contributor". Some of these contributors are knowledgeable, well-researched, and fair. Others are has-beens with a history of failure resulting in a bitterness they wear like a service medal. You cannot turn on Fox News or MSNBC or CNN without one of these contributors tearing apart somebody else's life's work or a collective group's vast efforts without any real context.

I'm not claiming you cannot judge somebody else; that's what your brain is for. "Non-judgmental" people kid themselves and think they kid everyone else when they refuse to have an opinion. However, the other extreme is the highly critical person who can't hold perspective and doesn't have a command of the complexities specific to a situation.

The difference between judging and being overly critical is the difference between critical thinking and irrational criticism. Critical thinking keeps actions in perspective while irrational criticism has no allowance for mistakes nor any acknowledgement of indemnity. In the world of irrational criticism, Merck can't recall their own drug and provide compensation without a litany of lawsuits and hordes of politicians proposing legislation. Marines cannot clear a room full terrorists without a camera providing a glimpse into the reality of war so armchair generals can second guess our own soldiers. The U.S. cannot hold elections without reports of people feeling disenfranchised because somebody looked at them the wrong way, therefore invalidating the election results.

Hidden far behind the interference of TV pundits, media bias, and out-of-context sound bites, there is a simple, stark truth: people are not perfect.

It doesn't matter what they do; if people are involved, mistakes will happen. How people respond to mistakes shows us what we are made of. Lately, I think much of humanity has been going in reverse. Instead of learning from mistakes and building on that knowledge to better ourselves, political correctness, litigation, public opinion, and even fear seem to stall progress and test our fortitude.

It's time to learn from the past to build the future. We can't do that if every mistake leads to years of of second guessing. Seas were not crossed by the timid and rockets were not launched into space by tort lawyers. If we are to continually improve our way of life, we need to cut each other some slack. Understanding the differences between legitimate mistakes and intentional malice can set the stage for our greatness.

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