So, the Duranie fallout from Mike Bell’s unfavorable review of the Calgary show continues this morning. I can’t remember the last time Daily Duranie had so much discussion on its Facebook page, actually. Dissenting comments populated our page and spread like wildfire.
Coyly, one commenter asked, “Is he not allowed an opinion?” She continued by saying she didn’t know if she would agree with his review until she went to see the show.
Fair enough. Her loaded question made me think. Mike Bell, and others like him are critics. In order to be a critic, opinions are necessary. I mean, you can’t very well review something if you don’t have an opinion, can you? But is that the point here? I’m not so sure on my end.
There have been numerous times when Amanda and I have given an unfavorable review. Fans are not afraid to call us out when they do not agree. We’ve had it pointed out to us occasionally that we’ve been too harsh with regard to one topic or another. Carefully, we cite reasons, give examples and with varying levels of success—we attempt to be fair when we write blogs that are less than favorable. It isn’t easy, and we don’t expect everyone to agree. Our job is to start the conversation and let it go from there.
Those details that Amanda and I try very hard to incorporate here, such as examples, reasons, and yes, fairness, were missing yesterday. It wasn’t so much that the reviewer didn’t like the show, it was that I hardly saw critique of the show. His article displayed his predetermined utter dislike for the band with a few dismal sentences about the show thrown in for good measure. Had he taken the time to prove why he felt that HLTW wasn’t quite up to par, or how he felt that the band was inanimate, perhaps the review might have gone over differently.
That’s just it though, these critics don’t have to prove anything. They can just write their drivel, and for the most part—it goes unnoticed and unchallenged until a blog like Daily Duranie comes along. I make no apologies for starting the conversation.
-R
