I wonder if people use the word "criticism" wrong or if i am misunderstanding it.
Multiple times, mostly in german, i have seen the question if it is ok to criticise Israel. Very likely, this is geared towards asking if criticism is inherently antisemitic here. This prompted me to do a double take and ask: how can it not be ok to offer criticism? How could criticising someone / a group with a trait be inherently anti-trait?
Now my understanding of the word is that a (usually negative) opinion is offered on something where the criticised entity has agency.
For example, if someone is blonde, born in a specific area, or has a big nose, those are not criticism but just insults if offered in a negative way.
Someone designing a house can design it differently, someone deciding to do a thing could choose not to. Those are things that allow actual criticism as i understand it.
How do you use the word? Someone who offers a negative opinion on a thing where the target has no agency is:
I'm thinking that an expression of dislike is not just limited to either a criticism or an insult. I might, for example, criticize the weather in a certain part of the country - I'm not insulting the weather, and I'm not expecting it to change, either. It's just an expression of my personal displeasure with it, but it still counts as a criticism if I explain what's wrong with it, and how it could be better.
@mikejackmin Yes, it seems i have been too narrow there. The weather, one would complain about, an entirely different thing.
I'll count this as "criticism includes things the entity spoken to has no agency in", since you seem to say it is rather a blanket word and can be differentiated further - correct?
@admitsWrongIfProven
Yeah, I think so. I guess I'm seeing criticism as a statement meaning "here's how this can be better" regardless of whether the target has any agency or not.
Perhaps the term "constructive criticism" includes agency - it's not constructive unless some positive change is hoped for.