Critic Culture

As I type this I’m streaking down the highway in a Megabus-turned-Boltbus with the jagged skyline of my city, Philadelphia, in sights. Read any of the recent headlines from Philadelphia’s media outlets and you will almost prevailingly find them to be about some aspect of the Pope Francis’ recent sojourn in Philly.
Now that the event is over, most media outlets are lauding officials for pulling off a relatively smooth operation given the extreme measures that were instituted by Philly, the city’s transportation corporation “SEPTA,” and the various security organizations that fortified the city to allow for an uneventful (sans for the main event) weekend. People flocked to the city to see the Pontifex in all of his holiness, and aside from the transcendent vibe radiating off of the citizens, emotions have more or less returned to normal in his wake.
Glance at any of the headlines from before the event (and even some now), some dating back as far as to when Philadelphia was selected as the Pope’s destination, and you will find some scathing headlines that lambasted city officials for “prioritizing the Pope over the citizens of the Philly.” Record road and school closures and transportation service suspension cast the city into a state of stagnancy during the extended weekend of the Pope’s visit. Businesses in center-city either flourished or floundered depending on their ability to provide their workers with transportation into the radius of blocks where no form of unauthorized transportation was allowed to enter — a zone that covered the entirety of downtown Philadelphia.
Citizens of the city of Philadelphia more or less found themselves sitting ducks; some fled the city in expectation of the stagnancy and took “popecations” to dodge the ensuing “popeacolypse.” Others festered in quiet anger as the city vibrated at once with annoyance and awe.
The logistics of the visit were as much of a success as they were a nightmare, and people in Philadelphia spared no words as they complained during the mass meetings preceding the event, and on their respective social media accounts. There seemed to be a consensus: Mayor Nutter, the man in charge of the city with the access to a network of consultants who were advising him on the best course of action, had gotten it all wrong. He had made the wrong decision, in their eyes, and the only people equipped to handle an undertaking as large as the Pope’s visit were the citizens of Philadelphia.
Critics, the lot of them. But it doesn’t stop there. Even as I type this, I am watching the bus driver who arguably has more experience whipping the steering wheel than I have forming advanced thought, and I am criticizing him for his driving. Me — an eighteen year old whose only driving experience was behind the steering wheel of a one-speed golf cart on a campus nearly devoid of actual traffic! Yet at every sharp turn, every dodge and weave amongst the roaring expressway traffic, I wince and whisper a small “you idiot” to the bus driver, and pray that we don’t go careening over the side of a bridge. Undoubtedly, this man has driven this route on numerous occasions, through conditions far worse that the ones assailing the region today, yet I still believe that I know better than he does.
This speaks to a problem that has always existed in the world, but is magnified now by the celerity at which information is transferred — and the consequent inadequacy of that information. The internet is laden with “how-to” videos and “10 steps” posts, and so we consumers of this new form of education falsely believe that we are experts in these topics. Then we take to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to brandish our newfound “knowledge” at the people who have dedicated their lives to perfecting their trades.
We believe that we know better than they do and we criticize them for their narrow-mindedness. “Why can’t the bus driver see that the wet conditions of the road mean that he shouldn’t be switching lanes willy-nilly?” evolves into “why can’t the President of the United States see that the aftermath of yet another school shooting is not the time to try to engage the country in a discussion about gun control?”
We have transformed into a society of laymen who keep trying to grasp the reins of responsibility from the people who are experts in their field – from the people who have the knowledge and resources to understand the complexity of national issues like the liaison between second amendment rights protection and public safety, or the ordeal of hammering out nuclear trade deals with volatile countries. We have transformed into a society that is content with not only criticizing those in power in the most egregious and heavy-handed way, but rallying behind those that make spectacle of their baseless critiques.
What does this culture mean? It means that the lay-critics amongst us will continue to catalyze national disgust at politicians who are actively working to improve conditions in their respective countries. It means that our leaders will begin to question why they made the sacrifice of engaging in public office, assuming responsibility over large swaths of people. It means that the future generations of politicians who are currently observing the hail storm of insults that previously respected executive offices endure will be turned off of the idea of joining the public sector.
Constructive criticism is a thing — an important function in the cycle of development. But the sort of rabble-rousing fanfare that ensues in forums and on social media is destructive criticism, a problem that has the potential to wreak incalculable damage on the future of the world’s leadership. Citizens are supposed to demand answers from their leaders and be vocal about the projects and issues they are passionate about. With that right of freedom of speech, there comes a responsibility to ground the sort of discussion that is meant to be progressive in an open-minded, fact-based basis. Too often these conversations devolve into attacks on the people in office, rather than on the issues assailing the region.
Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia asked this question of the city after hearing the barrage of criticisms aimed at him by the media and the citizens of Philadelphia: “We have to figure out as a city, how do we declare victory, how do we enjoy success, how can we be more positive about any number of things that go on in this city?” This is a question that our society has to ask itself: how do we define success, how do we appreciate the incremental changes that we can enact, and how can we develop an outlook of positivity when it comes to political issues?
Pessimism is the proverbial nail in the coffin, and this rampant critic culture is sending the stalwart institutions that we boast about to their graves far quicker than any militarized foe could.
For Philadelphia, the question raised is as poignant and relevant as ever. What is the priority? A few moments of inconvenience, or the achievement of hosting one of the most world-renown figures without incident? I’d take the Pope over access to the expressway any day.
Image Source: Flickr/Ryan Hallock