I love seeing a mainstream expert get all defensive when it comes to being a critic. In short, according to Mr. Richard Schicke of the Los Angeles Times, being a critic is being expert while having an opinion is being a blogger. Such sweet hubris. Sweet Richard Schicke, poor dinosaur!
Let me put this bluntly, in language even a busy blogger can understand: Criticism — and its humble cousin, reviewing — is not a democratic activity. It is, or should be, an elite enterprise, ideally undertaken by individuals who bring something to the party beyond their hasty, instinctive opinions of a book (or any other cultural object). It is work that requires disciplined taste, historical and theoretical knowledge and a fairly deep sense of the author’s (or filmmaker’s or painter’s) entire body of work, among other qualities. (via Los Angeles Times)
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