Etiquette of Criticizing (English)

It seems like people are generally good at criticizing. (well, sometimes, it becomes complaining...hahaha)

We always criticize or complain about politicians, bosses, scholars etc etc.

I do not think it is a bad thing. Even criticism without alternative proposition could be a first step towards constructive proposition.

In other words, criticizing is important because it could be a part of construction process.

However, I recently think that there should be a certain kind of "Manner" or "Etiquette" when we criticize something.

To be able to criticize effectively and responsibly, we need to understand the object of criticism correctly.

This sounds easy but actually not many people practice it.

For example, those who are against neo-liberalism tend not to read the original text of Hayek or Milton Friedman. (both of them are well-known scholars who support market mechanism and therefore, tend to support the idea of neo-liberalism).

And visa-versa.

Those who are against socialistic world view tend not to read the original text of Marx.

If we read the original text of those who go against our opinion carefully, we might notice that their intention was different from what we imagine.

It is just unfair to criticize them without reading the original text of them.

It is like criticizing a person based on rumors about him.

But this happens A LOT in our daily lives, I think.

When we debate, argue and discuss, we often do not listen to opinions of the other side.

That is not good.

Not good because 1. it is not constructive, 2. you cannot learn anything with that kind of attitude.

1. If you criticize something without understanding what the other side really wants to say, you just miss the point and encourage misunderstanding based on false information. This is not constructive.

2. If you stick to your opinion without intention and attitude to understand the other side, you cannot learn from the other side. When there are several opinions, most probably, all of them has points to some extent. It is rarely the case that somebody is completely wrong. Trying to understand the other side benefits you to a great extent.

Criticizing is fine. It is necessary. But when we criticize something, it is better to follow certain "Etiquette" for the sake of common good and also for our own good.