“Persons and Opinions”
True or false.
“Everybody is a critic and people always have opinions.”
Is this statement correct?
Well, let’s see…
Everybody is a critic.
People always have opinions.
Both of these sentences make up 2 claims.
The 1st claim is,
“Everybody is a critic.”
The 2nd claim is,
“People always have opinions.”
Are these claims correct?
Well, we should look at a book from a famous critic to find out.
I know a book with the name The Round Table, for the year 1817.
The Round Table was a book with professional, literary criticism.
Let us turn the page and find an essay with the name,
“On Common-Place Critics”
The essay is called “On Common-Place Critics”.
The essay was written by a famous critic named William Hazlitt.
He was writing an essay about most people and most critics.
“Commonplace” is really a word that means “most if not everybody”.
He was talking about most people.
He was talking about most critics.
So, who are most critics?
Who are most people?
William Hazlitt told English-speaking readers centuries ago.
He said:
“We have already given some account of common-place people; we shall in this number attempt a description of another class of the community, who may be called (by way of distinction) common-place critics. The former are a set of people who have no opinions of their own, and do not pretend to have any; the latter are a set of people who have no opinions of their own, but who affect to have one upon every subject you can mention.”
Okay…
What does this mean?
Let me tell you:
Most critics are really just like most people.
They are like most people.
But, most critics pretend to have opinions for most people, who have no opinions.
Do you see the joke?
It’s very funny!
How can most critics have opinions for everyday people who do not have opinions?
Do everyday people just have all their opinions by magic?
Do most people really talk like most critics?
No, of course not.
Most people do not have opinions.
Yes, most people have small talk and chat and message and text and ideas and such.
But, most people do not have opinions for anything, anywhere, any place, at anytime.
Most people just accept who they are and do not do anything stupid.
However, most critics will do something stupid.
Most critics will be too polite, or too rude, or too curious and such.
Why?
Well, according to William Hazlitt, most critics worry too much about manners.
They worry so much about manners and cause disorder with pseudo awareness.
Most critics say they think like other people think.
They will really say they think like other people think!
That’s not possible.
Nobody can “copy” somebody else’s mind.
When people in fashion try to think like other people think, they make mistakes.
Shopping becomes madness and parents tell children to behave.
Most critics just read too many books about nice behavior.
And, most critics will ignore the original sense of nice behavior and cause problems.
That’s what most critics are.
They still are today.
So, in summary:
Most people have no opinions.
Most critics only have opinions for most people, who have no opinions.
That’s philosophy from William Hazlitt, a famous critic.
So, what does this mean?
Let’s look at the “true or false” statement again.
True or false.
“Everybody is a critic and people always have opinions.”
From reading William Hazlitt’s essay, the answer is FALSE.
The statement is FALSE.
Most people are not critics.
Most people do not have opinions.
Most critics have opinions.
Most critics have opinions for people.
But, most people have no opinions.
So, most critics do have opinions.
But, for most critics, their opinions are only imagination with no justice.
Most critics have bad opinions and their imagination is a mess.
That’s why most people ignore most critics.
Because most critics are just like most people, most people ignore most critics.
https://www.deviantart.com/gameuniverso/art/Persons-and-Opinions-977791246
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