Touchy Musician: Everybody’s A Critic

Ah, the Midwest, the gracious “heartland” where I spent the hunk of my career when I returned to America from Europe.  I actually spent little time in Wisconsin.  I know more about Milwaukee than I do about Madison, although I suspect there is at least one physician there I helped train and get into some kind of desk job because he seemed to be scared of patients. Response to criticism was not his strong suit, either.  I blocked him out so completely I cannot remember his name now.  I do remember how grateful he was that I had figured out something that sounded good to put on his letter of recommendation for this public health type desk job.  I had asked everybody in the department for advice on how to word it.  “Is at his best dealing with patients earlier in the process of developing illness” is something like what I came up with.

Although regional generalizations are by definition rather superficial, I suspect that the mentality in Wisconsin is more similar to Kansas or Ohio than it is different.  The true colorful eccentrics — not grossly pathological, but eccentric — seem to be found in the Midwestern United States the way in France, they were found in the smaller, even semi-rural towns.  I remember the writer Richepin wrote things about such eccentrics that I loved.  He is hard to find in English, but there is at least one link.

The one with the sensitive trigger is the performer.  The eccentric is; the critic.  Who with any kind of social sensibility would criticize a street musician?  Someone who had to assert his identity, make himself important.

I remember so many ancient put-downs of critics who are unable to do the things they criticize.  One that stays in my head is something about a critic being something like a “eunuch at a gang-bang.”  It is hard to make inferences, but I am certainly willing to guess that the man who offered the criticism has limited musical talent at best.

As for the violent response to criticism, let us say this person was very invested in his music.  It is difficult to tell where he was coming from.  There may have been a biochemical part of the investment, as I have seen similar behaviors under the (dis-inhibiting) effects of marijuana, let alone the effects of stimulants.  Either can do a pretty good job of clouding judgement, too.

People get more passionate about some subjects than others – such as
spirituality, religion.  This was not a mass manifestation, rather one man attempting to interface with the general public.

Hypersensitivity to criticism — some think it is primarily biochemical; e.g., the example given by Peter Kramer in “Listening to Prozac” of a woman who improved in that sphere and her business of real estate “deals” with Prozac.

I think it may be a coping mechanism, or the lack of one as learned in childhood. Perhaps both are just different ways of looking at the same thing. People with this kind of sensitivity are advised to gain insight into their behaviors, with counseling (and even medication) if necessary. It ought to be available to all, this is the law in the U.S.; you just go to your county government and they will point your nose to the correct address. It is a good idea to avoid the penal system. This is often done by first avoiding assault charges and fights and such.

But then, some people learn the hard way.