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Haters gonna hate

Hell hath no fury like a student scorned.

Throughout this year, I’ll admit, we’ve published an article or two calling the student demographic apathetic. But the reality is you really care — some of the time.

And the result is a reader filled with so much emotion that it overflows into conversations in the Tim Hortons line, our opinions page, the website — whatever medium available. And that’s great. I love seeing an open dialogue between our paper and the readers — but that wasn’t always the case.

You see, I had what some people like to call thin skin — I didn’t take criticism well. This sentiment is shared by many of my peers I’m sure. Spending hours pouring over the introduction of your final essay only to receive a mediocre grade could be compared to agonizing over the perfect lede only to have a reader comment on a poorly phrased sentence buried in the last paragraphs. “But they’re missing the point,” might be a common exasperation.

But whether it’s constructive, useless or downright mean, criticism is a good thing. It forces you to justify a point you’ve made public and challenges you to cover all your angles next time. For every sentence I write, I now have four more sentences in the back of my mind ready to defend that point. Criticism forces you to stand by your convictions, has the potential to discredit you, but helps you improve next time.

The more criticism the better. It helps you distinguish between the individuals that want to help you improve in the long run, and those who are just looking to have their voices heard. And either one is okay.

Take feedback and use it when it’s offered. But if a person is just looking to vent, remember heated discussion is better than no discussion at all. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned during my time at the Gazette.

Oh, and never quote someone else as your final thought. It’s a cop out — you should be able to phrase your thoughts with much more conviction than anyone else can.

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