A Chat on Criticism

S: Stonepeace said, ‘One who says many to be evil might be the one most evil.’ (常说人人不好的人可能是最不好的人.) Is the monkey that points at evil instead of seeing, hearing and saying nothing about evil always evil?

C: 某些反對黨常説執政黨不好可能是最不好的黨？哈哈！而執政黨常説反對黨不好也可能是最不好的黨？嘿嘿！最好無黨派之分，大家都存好心，常説好話，做好事！

L: ‘Look at yourself in the mirror before speaking ill of others.’

V: 来说是非者，必是是非人!

S: Hmmm… Guess it’s not ‘politically correct’ for each side to sing the other’s praises… at the possible expense of lowering their own worth in citizens’ eyes. However, excess self-praise also makes citizens more wary of the true worth of th…at praised too. Each side should just praise where praise is due. It’s the duty of the opposition to look for flaws, for improvement… just as it is the duty of the non-opposition to open their minds to really hear their concerns, for the same goal of improvement.

The right motivation in politics must be for improvement to benefit citizens instead of only self-profit or demonisation of anyone who opposes. Reality is realised from seeing both the bright and the dark sides. While we tend to see only one side, may we not forget there’s another. 讨论是非者，不为分辨是非，止恶行善，即是非人！

From Heraclitus, a paradox about the nature of opposing – ‘Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.’ As such, it’s not always bad to oppose, as it is often mistaken. It doesn’t have to be antagonistic. In fact, t…o oppose for the greater good is always good. Some public demonstrations turn antagonistic not because of their cause, but because their cause for greater good is ignored. If our criticism is not constructive, it is usually destructive, and rarely neutral. It takes skill to oppose with compassion and wisdom!