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I don't think you should be downvoted, because you speak truth. The comment/quote is factually wrong: not everyone who gets into creative work has "good taste"

I don't think you should be downvoted, because you speak truth. The comment/quote is factually wrong: not everyone who gets into creative work has "good taste", nor is Ira Glass correct that you just need to plow through it. Go peruse an end-of-senior-year art exhibit or dance recital at your local college. Bless 'em, they worked hard and gave it their best, but usually the raw creativity and talent isn't there.

mulmen 7y ago
I don't think your example disproves Glass' statement. Surely students are in the beginner phases and their work does not represent their full potential. Glass' statement seems to say forgive students (and yourself for being one) instead of writing them off as hopeless.
- paulcole 7y ago
  Look at the first sentence of Glass’s statement. It is meant to be told to beginners to encourage them. He’s telling beginners that because you’re trying you must have good taste (which is clearly not true) so stick with it.
  - v64 7y ago
    > He’s telling beginners that because you’re trying you must have good taste That's not how I read the quote. I read it as him saying, you can't know whether or not you have good taste without first producing a lot of bad work, and that producing bad work is not necessarily a sign that you have bad taste. If anything, those who judge themselves harshly are demonstrating good taste because they can see the flaws in their work compared to the works of others. It's those that don't feel any sense of criticism toward their own work that lack good taste, but they wouldn't feel this quote applies to them in the first place, because they wouldn't feel that their work is disappointing. They would instead be blaming others for not recognizing their superior work.
  - jerry1979 7y ago
    Ira is obviously trying to point out that the self-hatred comes from the fact that you know enough about your work to hate it. He turns pessimism into meta-cognition.
  - mulmen 7y ago
    I don't read it that way. I read it as a message to not be discouraged if you aren't immediately a master because nobody is immediately a master. If everyone looks at the results of their work and says "I can't do this" then nobody will ever improve. It's a hacker's viewpoint for sure. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of not just the good but anything. Fail fast, etc, etc. I didn't learn to use a command line or write python scripts instantly. I spent thousands of hours banging my head against the wall. Progress is slow. Imperceptible even. Stick with it and eventually you get there. Does this mean everyone can do everything? No. It means you'll never find what you are good at it if you just give up at the first sign of failure.
hombre_fatal 7y ago
You're really getting lost in the weeds. Glass' is talking about good taste by your own standards, and standards that are higher than you can achieve as a beginner. Whether other people think you have good taste is irrelevant to the quote/advice. The point is to not let this discourage you from putting in the work.

mulmen 7y ago

I don't think your example disproves Glass' statement. Surely students are in the beginner phases and their work does not represent their full potential. Glass' statement seems to say forgive students (and yourself for being one) instead of writing them off as hopeless.

paulcole 7y ago
Look at the first sentence of Glass’s statement. It is meant to be told to beginners to encourage them. He’s telling beginners that because you’re trying you must have good taste (which is clearly not true) so stick with it.
- v64 7y ago
  > He’s telling beginners that because you’re trying you must have good taste That's not how I read the quote. I read it as him saying, you can't know whether or not you have good taste without first producing a lot of bad work, and that producing bad work is not necessarily a sign that you have bad taste. If anything, those who judge themselves harshly are demonstrating good taste because they can see the flaws in their work compared to the works of others. It's those that don't feel any sense of criticism toward their own work that lack good taste, but they wouldn't feel this quote applies to them in the first place, because they wouldn't feel that their work is disappointing. They would instead be blaming others for not recognizing their superior work.
- jerry1979 7y ago
  Ira is obviously trying to point out that the self-hatred comes from the fact that you know enough about your work to hate it. He turns pessimism into meta-cognition.
- mulmen 7y ago
  I don't read it that way. I read it as a message to not be discouraged if you aren't immediately a master because nobody is immediately a master. If everyone looks at the results of their work and says "I can't do this" then nobody will ever improve. It's a hacker's viewpoint for sure. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of not just the good but anything. Fail fast, etc, etc. I didn't learn to use a command line or write python scripts instantly. I spent thousands of hours banging my head against the wall. Progress is slow. Imperceptible even. Stick with it and eventually you get there. Does this mean everyone can do everything? No. It means you'll never find what you are good at it if you just give up at the first sign of failure.

hombre_fatal 7y ago

You're really getting lost in the weeds. Glass' is talking about good taste by your own standards, and standards that are higher than you can achieve as a beginner. Whether other people think you have good taste is irrelevant to the quote/advice. The point is to not let this discourage you from putting in the work.