doxophobia

The term has two meanings:

1. fear of expressing opinions

2. fear of receiving praise

What interests me are the doxophobiacs of the first definition, who, so as not to upset the delicate natural balance of their web of friends, would rather not offer a negative opinion about anything. Silence is what's given. Doxophobiacs think it is a good reaction because silence can be interpreted as tacit approval or agreement.

(Doxophobiacs of the second degree are rarer. I am uncomfortable with praise myself, though not to a phobia-level extreme, because often I think that an agenda (or worse, ignorance) lies under the praise. I actually prefer bitter criticism to bland praise, because with intelligent criticism I can learn and improve myself. With bland praise, only my ego gets something.

And certainly silence is not golden. It's just that some people are frightened of intelligent conversations that may expose certain undesirables.)


my point?

People who are afraid of opinions shouldn't read opinions - skip editorials/opinion columns, newspaper/magazine reviews, critical essays and my journal. Avoid it like the plague.

Because I'm not a believer in "give peace a chance".

If your writing is crap, no matter how well you ornament it and no matter how many people you rally to your side chanting "stop war, not crap", it is crap.

Get your starry-eyed sycophants to jack you off somewhere else.

Or better yet, learn to improve your craft.