criticism Archives - understand-culture

The Turbulent Times of Friedrich Merz

New York Times. December 15, 2026. By Jim Tankersley. Reporting from Munich, Berlin and the German chancellor’s aircraft.

“Mr. Merz’s approach is being severely tested. He has lost support at home since taking office in May. His courtship of Mr. Trump has mostly minimized damage to Europe on issues like trade and the war in Ukraine thus far.

But Mr. Merz remains the strongest leader standing among Europe’s major powers, especially now that President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain are faltering domestically. He is emerging as Europe’s indispensable leader — or at least, acting like it.

When Mr. Trump’s negotiators stunned Europe by reaching a Moscow-friendly agreement with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, Mr. Merz was the first continental leader to get Mr. Trump on the phone and push back.

Mr. Merz still believes he can coax Mr. Trump to break decisively from Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president.

‘I remain hopeful that we will permanently convince the United States and win them over to end this war together with us in Ukraine,” he told me. “That means we must support Ukraine until Russia can no longer continue this war economically. That is the only option we have.'”

Criticism

Germans focus on reducing errors. When providing feedback they concentrate on weaknesses, on what is not working. Germans address that directly, openly, in a neutral, matter-of-fact way. Examples

Criticism

German Approach

Germans focus on reducing errors. When providing feedback they concentrate on weaknesses, on what is not working. Germans address that directly, openly, in a neutral, matter-of-fact way. Examples

American Approach

Americans focus less on reducing errors, more on reinforcing what leads to good results. When giving feedback Americans concentrate on strengths. Critique is communicated in a carefully worded way. Examples

American View

The German focus on the reduction of unforced errors is seen by Americans as short-sighted, defensive in character. All too often, critique is voiced without suggestions of how one can improve on their individual weaknesses. Germans come across as overly, at times unfairly, critical.

German View

The American style of wrapping criticism in euphemisms and politically correct language is often difficult for Germans to decipher. The more critical the message, the more likely an American will formulate it in positive terms. They come across as unwilling to address problems for what they are, problems and not issues or challenges.

Advice to Germans

Americans are neither naive nor ignorant about their weaknesses. When addressing their weaknesses be less direct and literal. Choose positive, supportive language. Note the things which are going well.

Never criticize without suggesting a way to improve. If you are led by an American be prepared for more praise than you expect. Accept it. Be sure, however, to ask for more input on your weaknesses. You’ll get it, eventually.

Advice to Americans

Germans see the road to success largely via a minimization of errors. When giving feedback, be prepared for a strong focus on what you are not doing well, and far less on what is working.

This will come across as direct, harsh, imbalanced. It is meant to be helpful, for why focus on what works? If you have transatlantic responsibility, acknowledge the need to improve on weaknesses.

Focus more attention on what is not working. But, continue to combine critique with improvement suggestions.

Criticism

Still too direct

“Germans, in general, can often be more direct and straightforward than Americans, and to be honest even after living here for eight years, that directness is still sometimes a little shocking for me, a little bit too much, or even sometimes has made me cry!”

A German comment: “Just your example about some shop assistent telling you that the piece of clothing does not fit you at all: I’m always more suspicious about a shop assistent telling me how good it fits keeping in mind he or she just wants their merchandise sold. So I tend more to appreciate an honest, though maybe direct answer.”

Another German comment: “I’m always irritated how well the Americans can hide the truth of what they are thinking behind compliments and smiles. In Germany If you are getting an honest critique, then the person likes you, thinks said critique can improve you and is interested that you do better. So its a good thing 😉 “

Oh, here’s a good one: “As a German, i feel like lying when i am asked about my opinion and i would try to let it sound “nicer”. Everyone is honest and tells what they think about everything. I tried for a while the way that is used in the staates and i gat really that awfull feeling of lying and i konstantly had to think about how i say things and not what i like to say.

In my opinion germans are just used to that honesty and fee unconfortable to alter the opinion just to sound nicer. The other way around, when i meet people from the staates, i have allways that feeling they are sneaky and false, they try to hide their thoughts behind words. I was never sure how they really are and think.”

Gothic horror author Anne Rice

Just as Germans are inclined to have more respect for the reviewer if there are some critical remarks posted under an overall good review, there are some Americans who simply cannot handle the criticism even when it is in their own interest to do so.

For example, gothic horror author Anne Rice has never been one to take criticism lightly. Although her Novel Blood Canticle received a five-star review on Amazon.com, which could only encourage readers to buy it, she lashed out at all of the negative comments posted below it by individual readers in a 1,200-word diatribe post.

Her claims were that her readers were “interrogating [the book] from the wrong perspective.” Aside from calling them “arrogant and stupid,” she also took time to personally target specific reviewers who had made harsher statements such as:

“Anne, you really should have an editor” (In fact, the book does contain a few grammatical errors). Then, she provided a spoiler description of the novel along with a commentary on exactly how brilliant it really was.

Everyone Gets a Ribbon

Often in children’s sports and other contests (spelling bees, science fairs, etc.) in America, all of the contestants receive ribbons and trophies, no matter how poorly they perform at the events.

Kay Wyma, an American mother who writes articles for a parenting blog, once discussed volunteering to write ribbons during her child’s swim meet. At the event, every child and teenager (the meet was for children up to 16 years old) received a ribbon for every race in which they competed, no matter what place they received.

In an article from NPR (National Public Radio) American Jorge Perez, vice president of youth development and social responsibility for the YMCA, talked about former youth who had participated in sports at his YMCA, and how years later they still had the trophies and clearly valued them. Perez argued that these trophies were an important part of their lives – a way to say “I did this.”

Reputations ruined

One reason why Americans take criticism so personally is the importance they place on public perception. Reputation, especially in business, is a very sensitive issue. It can be damaged quickly, and often irreparably, by criticism.

The public relations sector has been thriving in the American economy for generations. And in the digital age companies such as reputation(dot)com focus solely on helping companies (and individuals) to protect their reputations.

Warren Buffett, called the Wizard of Omaha and the Oracle of Omaha, and considered the greatest American investor, once said “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

Roger Boisjoly, an engineer at NASA during the Challenger space shuttle disaster, suspected that the explosion would occur. He tried to warn his superiors, but was ignored. During the investigation he was very forthcoming about what went wrong and whose fault it was, damaging many the reputation of many colleagues and superiors.

Even though he had fought to keep the disaster from happening, by ruining those reputations he damaged his own. Boisjoly received such horrible treatment at work that he eventually quit. Because he had a reputation as a reputation destroyer he couldn’t find another engineering position. Instead, he worked as a speaker on workplace ethics, teaching Americans how to avoid his mistakes and point out problems in a work environment without hurting reputations.

„Only fools criticize“

In his book How to Win Friends and Influence People (published in 1936 with more than fifteen million copies) the famous American businessman Dale Carnegie made the following statements which have been taken to heart by generations of Americans:

“Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person’s precious pride, hurts his sense of importance and arouses resentment.”

“Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”

“If you argue and rankle and contradict, you may achieve a victory sometimes; but it will be an empty victory because you will never get your opponent’s good will.”

“You can’t win an argument. You can’t because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it.”

“I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument — and that is to avoid it. Avoid it as you would avoid rattlesnakes and earthquakes.”

“By fighting you never get enough, but by yielding you get more than you expected.”

“criticism my way”

“I like criticism, but it must be my way.” Mark Twain in his Autobiography

“I don’t mind what the opposition say of me so long as they don’t tell the truth about me. But when they descend to telling the truth about me I consider that this is taking an unfair advantage.” Mark Twain, 1879