the kind of review that tells me OTHERS are going to get it even if he didn't

Normally I bin bad reviews or reviews by people who don't 'get' what I'm doing, but as an experiment I decided to 'own' this one. It isn't terrible, I got three out of five stars, but the whole tone is weirdly antagonistic- and it is quite obvious the reviewer has a competitive view of the world which revolves around comparing himself to others. He hasn't yet grasped that being inclusive, seeing what is valuable rather than nit-picking is a better way of proceeding. The model of 'lawyer for the prosecution' is, however 'clever', something limited and lacking in overall insight. He sees something in what I write as a possible threat to his view of himself and his world and therefore will do anything to put me down. He follows the pattern of the 7 Cs- which is a worthwhile mnemonic to observe as an indicator that you have entered the useless zone of comparing self to others. First you COMPARE, that leads to COMPETING, CONFLICT, CANCELLING out CONTRADICTORY evidence, CONSPIRING against and finally CONTEMPT (or crucifixtion in the hardball version). All these are evident in the review- almost in sequence. (His examples are cherry picked and stripped of context to be bent to his point- a classic method of cancelling out contradictory evidence.) The thing is- when we are in this either/or state of mind we think we are behaving entirely rationally. How do we know we are not? How can we check that we aren't simply in the grasp of a mechanical state of mind? Simply by asking the question of yourself- can I suspend judgment here and take an overall detached view- neither for nor against but asking: what is really going on here? This question- which is not limited to your response to a thing (that is only one element) also includes what others might think, what seems to be the real evidence, the view from a helicopter overhead rather than down a sniper rifle's lens.

I am just as guilty as the reviewer of taking at times a partisan viewpoint. And the good thing of being on the receiving end of such treatment is that it reminds me most forcibly that such mindsets are very limiting. Growing up is about getting beyond competition. It is healthy and a great stimulus when used with inisght and precision but is only a tool to be used and then left aside- in other words- do you use it or does it use you?

The final functional aspect of dwelling on partisan reviews is that they obviously ignore a whole swathe of other responses - in fact, mysteriously, they guarantee them - it is as if a shadow is evidence of sunlight. In any case eperience has taught me that a strong dislike betokens a d strong like elsewhere.