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Comment by kerkeslager | Hacker News Reader

> "Kind" is at best a context-dependent virtue. There are plenty of situations where being critical or divisive is the right thing.

Obviously.

Is hating Nickelback one of those situations?

> And even when the harshness doesn't come from the best place, we still need it to some extent or we become fragile and blind to our own flaws.

That's a fairly nuance-less view of kindness. Criticism, in the right context, is kind--it's not kindness to let problems stagnate when they can be fixed. For example, that is why I decided to criticize the author of this blog post.

But hating Nickelback, especially when it's just dogpiling onto a frankly boring meme, isn't trying to fix any flaw or problem. It's just being a dick in a way that it's popular to be a dick, because you can't be arsed to think for yourself about your own actions.

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There's no 11th commandment to be nice.

Look, if you didn't find it funny, you're right. But those people who found it funny were also right. Humor is a matter of taste.

> It's just being a dick in a way that it's popular to be a dick, because you can't be arsed to think for yourself about your own actions.

Maybe, or maybe people think it's funny and based on relevant criticism of the band's musical range and the music industry overall.

> Criticism, in the right context, is kind--it's not kindness to let problems stagnate when they can be fixed.

There's no use in this conversation if you are just going to equivocate between "kind" and "good". Kindness, as I understand it, usually implies some sort of consideration for the feelings of other people, which is manifestly not always the right thing.

> There's no 11th commandment to be nice.

And there is a commandment not to covet your neighbor's slaves, so maybe the 10 commandments aren't a great example of morality.

> Look, if you didn't find it funny, you're right. But those people who found it funny were also right. Humor is a matter of taste.

Eh, I can see how it's a little funny. I just don't really support humor at other people's expense.

> > Criticism, in the right context, is kind--it's not kindness to let problems stagnate when they can be fixed.

> There's no use in this conversation if you are just going to equivocate between "kind" and "good". Kindness, as I understand it, usually implies some sort of consideration for the feelings of other people, which is manifestly not always the right thing.

I'm not equivocating between "kind" and "good".

Going with your definition of kind: sometimes, when you consider the feelings of others, you realize that them feeling bad in the short term because you tell them a hard-to-hear criticism, allows them to fix a problem and feel better in the long term.

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