Negotists

I miss the hatred.

Sixteen years ago, when this site began, folks still took photos with cameras rather than those little narcissism dissemination devices (NDDs) through which they now curate their alternate realities. In the ensuing years, not a single month has passed without my publishing both an article and a collection of new photos — each its own magnet for a mountain of incoming hostility. But these days, with fewer readers than the average mid-level 2nd grader, the once rampant negativity has vanished — I’m simply no longer popular enough to be hated.

Negativity is one of the most rampant of human diseases, or rather it’s a side effect of the true disease — insecurity. In my experience, the vast majority of negativity is simply defensive posturing. Which makes me wonder why people are always so afraid of disdainful criticism — it’s never about them. It just means someone else is so insecure about themselves that the easiest way for them to feel superior is to diminish those around them. Negotists, I call them.

I’m constantly amazed this works. Back when the site was quasi-popular, I used to laugh at all the horrible things said about me, my writing, or my photography. People took it personally — as if I was the cause of their failure to achieve an equal level of quasi-popularity.

Negativity is the quickest route to establishing an illusion of superiority, because it works on several levels.

The first and most obvious level, is it establishes the hater as ‘judge.’ Being the judge implies knowledge and experience, and thus the arbiter of taste. So the mere act of declaring oneself ‘judge’ is a self-fulfilling ego boost.

But judges can render verdicts both positive and negative, so why does negativity dominate all such decisions? That’s negativity’s second level — fear. While negotists gleefully heap disdain on others, their ultimate fear is that it be heaped on them. By assessing everything negatively, they’re protected from attracting any negativity themselves. The moment you praise something or defend something, you become linked to it, and you become a target for anyone else who wishes to heap negativity on it. Because the last thing the negotists want is negativity directed at them, they remain negative about everything. Once you profess to like or admire something, the millions who ridicule it will now ridicule you for liking it.

It is cowardice, pure and simple.

Still, most people don’t enjoy being bullied, and most people don’t like pouring their heart and soul into something only to have it ridiculed. This is another case where I’m glad I’m not most people.

I learned decades ago that my fear of being ridiculed, scorned, or hated was because I, myself, was unsure of my creation. If I created something that I didn’t personally believe was the best it could be, then there was a nagging fear that I might be ‘discovered’ as a fraud. So when someone dumped on a creation I didn’t fully believe in, it felt as if I’d been exposed.

The best way to become impervious to negativity is simply to create work that pleases yourself. The moment we create to please others, we open our psyches to the damaging effects of negativity. But if it’s for yourself; if you know it’s good; if it’s true to the vision you had; if you can look upon it and say, “yes, they can put this in my biography” — then you become negativity proof.

Over the past couple of decades, the vast majority of negativity directed at my work has been blind criticism, adjudicated by people who didn’t even attempt to engage with it. How blind? Consider the fact that, a decade ago, one of the most common complaints about me as a photographer was that I would jump out in front of people, fire off a flash in their face, and photograph them looking frightened. In actuality, I’ve no photos of people looking frightened; have never once leapt at anyone; nor used a flash on the streets more than 2 or 3 times in 32 years — and even then, never on a human.

Countering these oceans of negativity is a tiny puddle of excessively effusive praise. This too should be ignored, for it’s also born from insecurity — particularly in the art world, where no one wants to admit they’re fraudulent, and everyone is fearful of being perceived as anything less than intellectual. So praise is often piled onto the most mundane art — simply for fear that a negative opinion could be construed as uncool or uninformed. It’s why there’s so much pretentiousness in the art world — though in this case, the tables turn and it’s the creator who looks down on the judges with disdain.

So what’s a poor besieged creative to do? How does one combat all these opinions? Simple: ignore all of them. The only opinion that matters is yours. If you’re unsure, don’t publish. If you are sure — send it into the world. The negotists and the glommers-on will do their thing regardless. But because you’re sure, you’re immune to the clueless hyperbole of others. And once enrobed in this immunity, you will create work that matters.

And remember — the more people who tell you how horrible you are, the more successful you are. An absence of negativity does not mean you are loved. Rather, it means you’re insignificant. And who wants to be insignificant? I certainly don’t. And that’s why I miss the hatred.

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©2024 grEGORy simpson

ABOUT THE PHOTOS :

‘Editorial‘ was photographed on a Leitz Minolta CL fronted with a Minolta 40mm f/2 Rokkor lens on Fomapan 100, and developed in Black White & Green.

‘Haute Couture‘ was shot with a Lomography Sprocket Rocket on HP5+ @ ISO 400 and developed in Black White & Green.

‘Heart Attack‘ was shot with an Olympus OM-2n, fronted with an 18mm f/3.5 Zuiko lens on HP5+ @ ISO 400 and developed in Black White & Green.

‘Adjudication‘ was also shot on an Olympus OM-2n loaded with HP5+ @ ISO 400, but was fronted with a 50mm f/1.8 lens and developed in Blazinal 1:50.

‘Urban Outfitters – Fall Collection‘ was shot with a Fuji Natura Black 1.9 on HP5+ @ ISO 1600, and developed in Blazinal 1:50.

‘Phosphorescence‘ was photographed with a Leica M6TTL using a TTA 50mm f/0.95 lens on FP4+ @ ISO 200 and developed in Blazinal 1:50.

‘Natural Ingredients’ used a Lomography Sprocket Rocket, and was shot on FP4+ at ISO 200 and developed in Blazinal 1:50.

‘An Enshrouding‘ used a Pentax MZ-S fronted with a Pentax-M 120mm f/2.8, and was shot on HP5+ @ ISO 400 and developed in Blazinal 1:50

‘Iconoclast‘ was shot on a Leitz Minolta CL fronted with a 40mm f/2 Rokkor lens on FP4+ @ ISO 200, and developed in Blazinal 1:50.

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