Group: alt.seduction.fast · Group Profile
Author: VanceVance Date: May 11, 2008 06:05
On May 10, 10:46Â am, HellBwat yahoo.com> wrote:> On May 10, 11:13 am, Vance gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Besides, reviews are nothing more than the readers opinions, there
> have been a number of movies, books, and plays out that critics said
> sucked and time proved them all wrong. So if you are going to place
> your opinion on someone else's opinion, I would say that is no opinion
> at all.
>
> Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Tim
>
>
>
>
>>> Tim, did you happen to read any of the reviews of the book? Â In
>> general, the overall impression of it is that it is entertaining, but
>> not substantively more than that. Â The Kirkus Review is
>> repressentative:- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Tim, not all opinions have the same weight or are based on the same
criteria. In one instance you are talking about opinions based on
personal taste. The proper use of a movie reviewer is to find one
that has tastes similar enough to your's that you can use them as a
guide. He, or she, may like a movie you don't, but generally they're
likes will work well enough as a guide that it is worth your time and
money to check out their recommendations. Whether they were right or
wrong about the movie being good is judged only by whether you liked
it or not. Books, similarly.
Literary criticism, or art criticism in general, is an opinion but is
not based on just liking something. There are more formal criteria
and it is possible not to like something and still appreciate it
critically. In my own, relatively new profession, there are
photographers whose work I don't like and I will tell anyone that asks
that I actively don't like it as a matter of personal taste. On the
other hand, I will also explain, if it seems that the person would
appreciate that type of work, what I think about how well they do it.
I can state that they do it very well and why, using standards and
criteria that have been around for several thousand years.
Taking it further, while I have never been an expert witness, I have
consulted with defense attornies on whether or not psychological
factors could be incorporated into a defense case. Now, you could
have the same opinion that I have on some hypothetical case, at least
in the most general sense, but your opinion would be valueless. You
could be right and it wouldn't matter because you couldn't explain the
potential weaknesses of a possible defense in terms of what an
opposing expert witness would probably do and other factors.
Your errors are:
1. Thinking all opinions, because they are opinions, have equal
weight or that the criteria for useful opinions are the same. Simply
wrong as a matter of fact.
2. Assuming that I looked at the book reviews before I had read some
of the book as described in my original post and hadn't formed my own
opinion.
3. That's just your opinion!
Vance
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