{"id":147,"date":"2015-02-25T16:44:33","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T21:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=147"},"modified":"2015-02-25T16:44:33","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T21:44:33","slug":"people-are-idiot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/02\/25\/people-are-idiot\/","title":{"rendered":"PEOPLE ARE IDIOT!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes sir, I’d give that comment five stars, too.<\/p>\n

The evaluation of art is a really strange thing. \u00a0Ratings and numbers cannot possibly explain a person’s understanding and digestion of art, but it is as close as an instant approximation as we can get. \u00a0Agnostic of context, ratings are pointless, almost silly.<\/p>\n

Ratings are also targeted outside oneself–a social exercise, not a personal one. \u00a0They are meant to be consumed by others, and are, again, pointless otherwise. \u00a0Sure, the act of rating and explaining why you liked or disliked something may lead to a greater depth of understanding, but that is just the act of focused, critical thinking that can be achieved outside of assessment……. mountain-surprise-in-the-middle-of-the-sentence-well-it’s-really-the-end-oh-well.<\/p>\n

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The real question is, of course: are people\u00a0really<\/em> idiot? \u00a0When they troll around in the comments, yes, I’d say they are. \u00a0Though their antics consistently\u00a0provide me with invaluable entertainment.<\/p>\n

A logical next\u00a0question, as an author, is how people will respond to\u00a0my<\/em> book. \u00a0What will those ratings look like? \u00a0Impersonal data has the potential to\u00a0eviscerate us creative types. \u00a0Especially the one star reviews, which are as inevitable as the heat death of the universe. \u00a0There’s some funny videos<\/a> of authors reading one-star reviews of their books, which goes to prove that it happens to everyone. \u00a0I hope that in their place I can be as cool-headed as they are. \u00a0It is absurd to think that everyone will like my writing, yet I consistently catch myself hoping for that very absurdity. \u00a0I know that there’s a certain quote about pleasing all the people all the time, or something… but the soundest logic dies a grisly death to people-pleasers like Zachary Barnes.<\/p>\n

It makes sense to stick to your guns, knowing that not everyone will enjoy my art. \u00a0But that’s hard to stomach given the amount of time I put into writing. \u00a0It’s hard to divorce critique of art from critique of creator, but hating a book isn’t the same as hating the author.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, I don’t know. \u00a0There’s a lot of crazy stuff out there to think about. \u00a0Big thinks. \u00a0So attempt to please people while sticking to your guns. \u00a0Care about the readership, but don’t care too much. \u00a0Create your own art, but understand\u00a0that your creation is not in a vacuum. \u00a0And brush your teeth. \u00a0Fin<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/span><\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. Zachary Barnes 2015\u00a9<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The evaluation of art is a really strange thing. Ratings and numbers cannot possibly explain a person’s understanding and digestion of art, but it is as close as an instant approximation as we can get. Agnostic of context, ratings are pointless, almost silly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[30,32,33,52],"tags":[60,61,67,78,112,158],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1300,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/06\/16\/cussin-and-bigotry\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":0},"title":"Cussin' and Bigotry","date":"June 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"No matter what you think about self-censorship, I believe that it is very important to at least have thought about the issues and be able to provide a reason to back up your stance. Without overemphasizing the scope and reach of our work, we writers need to understand how our\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Censorship\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/09\/the-author-ly-myth-of-inspiration\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":1},"title":"The Author-ly Myth of 'Inspiration'","date":"January 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"So when you picture a writer as that guy who sits at Starbucks\u00ae sipping his Flat White\u00ae, waiting for divine inspiration to fill his blank word document, please know that I'm going to try to slap you through the internet. And I'm not gonna feel bad about it.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Inspiration\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1551,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2017\/04\/17\/writing-challenge-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":2},"title":"Writing Challenge #1","date":"April 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Ahoy, folksies. I have a new idea! And it stems from my perceived inability to write tension without a threat of violence. But before I get all ahead of myself, let's take a breath and explain. Athletes need to warm up (well, not according to Tallahassee from\u00a0Zombieland, but whatever) and\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Exercise\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}