For the purposes of this post, I am referring to the casual use of “Opinion” (see definition below), an opinion rendered by a friend, associate or someone you might have just met, as opposed to a “Professional Opinion”. The primary distinction is that a “Casual Opinion” is one made and offered with little regard to facts, as is the case with so many opinions, even many offered by the media and in the public domain.

Constructive Criticism is offered to a person and/or situation by an individual or group, having a desire to improve that person or situation, on the basis of specific, pertinent knowledge. As such, by definition, Constructive Criticism has high value to the recipient(s).

One must exercise great caution in distinguishing between Constructive Criticism and a simple Opinion, as well as placing an appropriate value on each.

Determine whether you have been offered an opinion or an accurate assessment – <strong>then treat it accordingly!</strong>

Constructive Criticism – Defined

“Constructive criticism, or constructive analysis, is a compassionate attitude towards the person qualified for criticism. Having higher experience, gifts, respect, knowledge in specific field and being able to verbally convince at the same time, this person is intending to uplift the other person materially, morally, emotionally or spiritually. For high probability in succeeding compassionate criticism, the critic has to be in some kind of healthy personal relationship with the other one, which is normally a parent to child, friend to friend, teacher to student, spouse to spouse or any kind of recognized authority in specific field. Hence the word constructive is used so that something is created or visible outcome generated rather than the opposite.”

- Wikipedia

Opinion – Defined

“An opinion is a subjective statement or thought about an issue or topic, and is the result of emotion or interpretation of facts. An opinion may be supported by an argument, although people may draw opposing opinions from the same set of facts. Opinions rarely change without new arguments being presented. However, it can be reasoned that one opinion is better supported by the facts than another by analysing the supporting arguments. [1]

An opinion may be the result of a person’s perspective, understanding, particular feelings, beliefs, and desires. <strong>In casual use, the term opinion may refer to unsubstantiated information, in contrast to knowledge and fact-based beliefs.</strong>” (Note: emphasis added)

- Wikipedia

Opinions

Do They Have Any Value?

In the Canadian Comedy scene, Rick Mercer has often undertaken trips to the United States for the express purpose of humour at the expense of Americans. For my purposes here, the lesson contained is that such comedy relies upon, and documents, a human weakness.

In his comedy segment, Rick Mercer will interview selected Americans about supposed “issues” in Canada in order to solicit <strong>OPINIONS</strong> from the American subject. Canadians, knowing the issue is contrived, find humour in the opinions offered by our American counterparts in a vacuum of information and fact, simply that provided by Rick Mercer. It is important to note that Americans seeking further information upon which to base their opinions are not shown, as this would be counter productive to the segment.

The program relies exclusively on the fact that people, not just Americans but all of us, are often ready to render an unambiguous and strong positional opinion <strong>DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE HAVE NOT ASCERTAINED THE FACTS</strong>.

On the basis of this statement, one must be careful with respect to how much value to place on someone’s opinion of you, what you have done, what you represent, etc. as they may not have relied upon some, or even all, the facts in order to formulate their opinion.

Constructive Criticism

A Valuable Resource for Personal Development

Constructive Criticism should be carefully considered, but not necessarily acted upon, as it represents a potentially valuable resource with regard to evaluating oneself as part of your ongoing program of Personal Development. Unless, of course, it is simply an opinion.

Using the definition above, Constructive Criticism is founded upon compassion and a healthy relationship between the source and recipient of such criticism. Furthermore, it is, ultimately, intended “… to uplift the other person materially, morally, emotionally (and/)or spiritually.” Therefore, legitimate Constructive Criticism is intended for constructive purposes, to help oneself improve and address possible weaknesses or undesirable charater traits not recognized.

Almost by definition, someone offering Constructive Criticism should be altruistic in their motivations. Constructive Criticism should, ideally, be offered for the benefit of the recipient, not the source.

However, life is not ideal and motivations are generally not altruistic. Therefore, one must always consider the context of any advice in an attempt to determine whether it is an Opinion or Constructive Criticism.

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