Pen-Elayne on the Web

The "Oh Yeah?" Trap

Of late I've noticed that if you offer constructive criticism of an idea, whether it involves writing or making war, the people who thought up that idea will often knee-jerk you back with "Oh yeah? Well, if you think war/this piece of entertainment/this ad is so bad, what would you do?" I'm unclear as to why expressing my opinion on the inefficacy of an idea makes it incumbent upon me to present alternatives. I'm not the general or president or copywriter. I'm the citizen, the consumer, the end-user, and I think it ought to be sufficient to suggest that the person who thought up the perceived-bad idea in the first place think up another one. Provided he or she agrees that the original idea is bad, of course. Wherein lies the problem - the "Oh yeah?" response coming from the idea's originator (or inner circle) almost always implies that said originator doesn't see anything wrong with the idea, and is being overly defensive by trying to put you on the defensive. Don't fall for it. It's enough to opine "I don't need to draw up a plan for taking out Saddam to know that war is bad."

Baseball talk this weekend, I'm almost sure. Chest pains (probably from the suddenly frigid weather) are preventing me from writing up long essays.