Limitations of Being an External Critic

Charles Omole/

Many do not understand the dynamics of Power and so idealistic they are forever banished to live OUTSIDE the Arena. That is why Activists find it hard to gain Power because they are too idealistic and dead to reality adjustment.

People who are Government critics tend to be accused on being traitors when they go quiet after being given appointment in Government. 

Before you join the bandwagon dishing out these abuses, I feel you need to understand Seven key realities of life on the Inside.

1. Everything always look different from the inside than it was from the outside. Outside critics base a lot of their views on assumptions and idealistic factors. But when you become an insider, you suddenly realise new realities and facts that you never knew existed.

These immediately moderate your extreme views and keeping silent can be a way of composing yourself to see what you will do. When the real challenges in the Arena hits you; you suddenly realise your pontificating from the sidelines was based on assumed realities instead of true realities.

2. If your position is to help fix the problems you now see as an insider; you will not achieve that through just public criticism of an institution you are now part of. Some changes may be work in progress and your public expose could truncate any progress made.

3. True lasting Changes involves changing hearts and minds. That requires an element of TRUST. Building such trust will be impossible if all you do is publicly criticise the players you are trying to win over to your side.

4. What happens when you make mistakes yourself? Will you want the entirety of your contribution rubbished by others based on that one error? This is why you also have to give others the benefit of the Doubt and finding discreet ways to influence power rather than public grandstanding.

5. Criticising publicly while dwelling in the Arena creates all manner of challenges given that your audience are mostly outside the Arena. So how do you want the “outsiders” to appreciate realities on the inside they have not seen and do not appreciate.

Unless you start disclosing information that is not meant to be disclosed in order to strengthen your arguments in public; you must be ready to be misunderstood and pilloried.

6. Unguarded public criticism by an Insider could have the effect of reversing gains that have been made in other areas. You should try to avoid the Best becoming the enemy of the Good. Solving three problems out of 10 due to your presence is better that all ten remaining unsolved if you leave. 

7. To change institutions; you will need to have a team. You can not create a team with folks you constantly criticise publicly. And you also cannot change institution all by yourself alone. So, wisdom comes to play.

So a lot of the time, it is the people you are trying to help that will be your worst critics. That is why usually, the more you know about what is going on in the Arena, the more balanced and constructive your criticisms tend to be. The passionate feral blind critics tend to be those that know little of the realities of life in the Arena. We cannot build a new country if only the Blind supporters of any government are allowed into the Arena. The mix multitude is needed.

Let us be wise and focus on what helps Nigeria genuinely and not simply what makes us feel cool with ourselves. I have seen many hailed as true critics of government do more damage to the interest of their country than they can ever imagine.

That is currently taking place in the United Kingdom at the moment. We need to learn to stop the abuses and the habit of ascribing worst motives to actions of others in other to bring them down. What a sound education and higher training teaches you is that as you learn and know more; there are lots more you do not know. That breeds humility and should remove the arrogance of sole access to rightness. 

My position does not say we should not criticise. Criticism of government is right in a democracy because politicians bear great responsibility for leadership and representation of their constituents and their country, and because they have greater access to remedies than most ordinary people. But let us be Constructive, less abusive, less nasty and more solutions oriented in the process.

As you criticise from the outside, always bear in mind that there are facts you may not know; hence avoid extreme abusive position that could come back to make you look silly as more fact emerge later. It is time to build our Nation.

Many criticise the Government for appointing incompetent people. Then when a competent critic is appointed, same people call him/her a sellout. Can you sweep a house from the outside? Should a sinner who repents not be praised? Criticism of Government should not amount to hatred of your country.

That is why Mark Twain said: “Patriotism is to support your country ALL the time, and your government when it deserves it.” Try not to damage your Country (that is here all the time) while criticising a government (that is here only for a short time).

They are two distinct and different entities. Criticism just for its own sake manifests itself when you cannot say anything Good about a Government in power. Nobody is All bad; just as nobody is ALL good. Every Government is a mixture of Both in varying degrees.

Let us be constructive. We all have a duty. Being a professional critic and chief abuser on Social Media does not make you effective if you cannot reach the minds of those inside the Arena. And they will not listen to somebody who only see Bad things; but they may listen to a balanced critic who gives praise and correction equally. T Roosevelt captured it well when he declare as follows: 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Yes, you can leave the Arena if it looks like it is going to compromise your values, but you have at least tasted the reality and your criticism will now become better informed and fact-based. Not the extreme hatred displayed by the permanent external critics.

Dr. Charles Omole shared the article on Twitter via #DrCOmole

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