The Difference Between Criticism and Insult

[ChristianCritic]

1) Insult is motivated by malice and making the other person feel bad, while criticism is motivated by the desire to improve the other person's understanding of something.
2) When you insult someone, you attack his or her person; whereas when you criticize someone, you rebuke his or her words or actions.
3) When you insult someone, you imply that he or she can't change, but when you criticize someone, you believe that it is possible for that person to change.
4) When you criticize someone and that person doesn't change, you respect that person even though you disagree with him or her, but you insult someone whom you don't respect.
5) If someone you criticize changes, you are satisfied; but when someone you insult changes, you insult that person in a different way.

Criticism when valid and timely can be Christian, but insult is almost always unChristian.

 

[OneOfTheMany]

Interesting post.

I think the point of criticism can be boiled down to refinement. As humans, we have an innate desire to live a life of quality, and we do what we can to bring that dream to reality.

Criticism must be balanced with acceptance. There are going to be many things about the people and institutions in your life that you may wish to change, but the beauty of the world is partly derived from its weirdness. Criticism should most often be invoked when asked for.

Most importantly, artistic or architectural criticism should only come forth when coupled with a solution. If you have a problem with the design of a building or a style of music, don't mock it, simply present your alternative and let folks draw their own conclusions.

 

[LovebirdsFlying]

Criticism is meant to build up; insult is meant to tear down.

We criticize becuase we care about the person; we insult to make us feel better about ourselves by comparison.

Good thread.

 

[ChristianCritic]

Criticism is meant to build up; insult is meant to tear down.

We criticize becuase we care about the person; we insult to make us feel better about ourselves by comparison.

Good thread.

Yup, you said it in a nutshell!

 

[Qyöt27]

Well, I would posit that not all criticism is constructive, but that doesn't mean all non-constructive criticism is insult. Sort of arguing for the fact something was a bad idea to start with, rather than the way it was executed. In essence, the only 'constructive' thing to say in such instances is that whatever it was, was best left undone.

The overarching problem, though, is that people will all too often take criticism personally rather than objectively. This is more confused on the Internet-at-large, unless in the context of a community which the person has specifically opted to be a part of. The sheer number of people rejecting actual constructive criticism by claiming insult/flaming on places like YouTube is rampant. Whereas if you look at dedicated video editing communities, there's a distinct difference between criticism and flaming (hence why a lot of video editing communities absolutely loathe YouTube).