Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ucla-cs.ARPA
Path: utzoo!decvax!ittatc!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!ucla-cs!srt
From: srt@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Jefferson Sellout
Message-ID: <8921@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 12-Feb-86 20:08:16 EST
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.8921
Posted: Wed Feb 12 20:08:16 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Feb-86 00:27:34 EST
References: <592@smeagol.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 59


                             CRITIC'S DISEASE

Does a friend or loved one you know suffer from critic's disease?  Be on the
alert for these warning signs:

        *  He thinks he knows he knows the "One True Way".
        *  Contradicting his viewpoint is likely to spur a vicious
           personal attack.
        *  Like an immature four year old, he constantly seeks
           public approval.
        *  He's socially maladjusted and spends most of his life poring
           over his own words as reproduced by his typewriter or terminal.

A recent case study at the UCLA GOF Medical Research Center indicates just
how bad the Critic's Disease can get.

Greg Doe (not his real name) was a music critic.  Friends and neighbors began
getting worried when Greg started exhibiting all the signs of Critic's
Disease.  The first sign was violent reaction to people who suggested he
might not be the One True Font of Information:

>       C'mon Diane, get serious - there's songs where the meaning is
>       questionable, and there's songs where its all there in Black and
>       White.  This is one of those.  Ask Kantner & Slick if you don't
>       believe me...

When he didn't have a leg to stand on he resorted to the sort of senseless
stupid personal diatribes we see so often in these cases:

>       If anyone is interested, I hacked up this patch to uurec.c (v. 2.9)
>       for Netnews 2.10.3 - it looks to see if the 'From: ' line contains
>       the strings "dianeh" or "nessus"; if so it opens a pipe to
>       /dev/null.  Email me for it

In the last stage of the disease he degenerated into personal, public attacks
on people who had dared to disagree with him in private.  The meglomania that
accompanies Critic's Disease leads the patient to spread his (often pointless
and private) viewpoints in as large a context as possible, as if his views
were somehow important or worthwhile to anyone but himself.  Before the days
of electronic networks this sort of thing supported the vanity press:

>       To the UCLA Gang Of Four - Sorry I posted an 'opinion' of mine to
>       the net without your permission, I'll try not to do it again,
>       promise!!  Just don't call me an asshole again, please, it hurts SO
>       much ...

There wasn't much we could do for Greg Doe.  Like other terminal patients
such as Robert Mountainburn and Dave Swamp (not their real names), he was
too far gone to help.  We did what we could to help alleviate his symptoms -
we ran the output of his terminal back to the input so that no one would
disagree with him - but we have little hope of a complete cure.

Of course, Greg Doe's case was extreme.  He was from Caltech, a sanctuary for
geeky social misfits where his sort of narcissistic behavior is actually
encouraged by others of his type.  Most cases can be treated and the patient
restored to an active and in many cases nearly normal life.

  A Public Service Announcement from the UCLA GOF Medical Research Center