Finn McRedmond Week 1: Haters gonna hate, and with good reason

Someone’s gonna be a prick about you and whatever you do at some point in your university career. And that’s totally fine.

We are students and by default not that good at what we do. Student journalist? Probably not a very good journalist. Student actor? Still probably no Laurence Olivier. Student politician? No one likes you guys anyway.

Absolutely not.

And that is all okay. Because we shouldn’t be expected to be experts, we shouldn’t be expected to set the world alight with our insightful political commentary, and we shouldn’t be forced to write everything in ascending tri-colons (thanks, Cicero). And we definitely shouldn’t expect that of each other.

But, no matter what you do and to whatever standard, there will always be someone who will sneer at you. Whether that be writing or singing or sport or listening to Snow Patrol or eating a whole jar of peanut butter in one sitting. Someone will tell you that your writing is not good enough, or that choir makes you uncool, or that eating that much peanut butter off a fork is weird. And they might very well be right.

Okay, moderate amounts of shame

We all like to sneer – it makes us feel cool and non-vulnerable. And we are all guilty of it. I’m pretty sure a day hasn’t gone by in the past two years where I haven’t expressed at least moderate disdain for even the mere concept of rowing.

But, and firstly I warn you that I am about to go down the “haters gonna hate” route with all guns blazing, we can’t control how others are going to perceive us. And we can’t decide how they are going to react to whatever it is we decide to do. Whether we are good or bad or totally inconsequential, people like to be pricks about other people and their interests. It’s just part of the human condition, like love, and fancying Taylor Swift.

Haters gonna hate, as they probably should

So we should definitely not stop doing what we do because of snide cynicism and people telling us that we can’t. Someone will criticise this article for being soppy, or patronising, or shit. And someone will criticise your choir habits for being lame and someone will presume you’re awful just because you play rugby.  And you know what, it could all very well be true – but that’s fine, right?

It is fine. Because maybe one day I’ll write an article that’s neither soppy nor patronising. (It might still be shit – not really the point). But it’s not gonna happen if I stop altogether cos someone tells me they don’t like it and that I’m not good enough.

I’m sure you’re all lovely…

And don’t get me wrong, criticism is important. Harsh and legit advice is never unwarranted. Even being told that I’m “mentally deficient” in the comment section isn’t the end of the world. I’d rather you didn’t, but like, whatever, I’ll cope.

And every now and then you will come across a fuck-off good piece of student writing or a really great play or whatever. All of which have come about through practice and perseverance and another noun that probably doesn’t begin with P. Because the people who write the best articles are usually those who have written the most. Those who direct the best plays are those with the most experience. You’re never gonna be good if you stop the second someone tells you to.

So, fuck the sneerers and keep on doing whatever it is you do and one day you’ll probably be awesome at it. Unless you’re a boatie. Seriously guys, what the fuck are you thinking?