Hey Luis. My opinion is that criticism, for a wise receiver, is probably the most enlightening form of communication. It of course also depends a little bit on the person who does the criticism (it shouldn’t be an idiot who really doesn’t know what he’s talking about). I don’t think it depends on the format of the criticism. Abrasive criticism, can also be enlightening.
Therefore I thank people like oGALAXYo and Bowie Poag for sacrificing their popularity in exchange of our wisdom.
I would very much like more community members to learn how to accept all formats of criticism. My opinion is that exaggerated emotional intelligence (like being extremely empathic) only obfuscates the real message. What really matters is the real message. The fact that the person who expresses criticism does it in a not-so-nice way, is not what the message itself is about. I say: focus on the message itself first and then care about him being empathic or not.
I see many people with eye-flaps on their heads, not looking at criticism at all. Because, they think, criticism is purely something negative. Therefore, they often seem to think, is the message itself also wrong. Which is, in my opinion, unwise. Criticism means the person who expressed it, at least took the time to tell you why your stuff sucks. That by itself means that the person cares about it. Use the message. Let it enlighten you.
That’s my opinion. That’s why I say thank you for your criticism.
ps. I do agree that a person who’s going to express criticism should try to do it in a polite way. Maybe even using a little bit emotional intelligence. I don’t think the emotional intelligence should be all over the message. It should be possible to say: what you did there, sucks. Period. Because if something sucks, it sucks. There’s no so called good empathic way to tell it.