Does criticism equal entitlement?

When I uploaded my song about the NDIS to TikTok, I had a lot of lovely comments. There were many people who agreed with what I was trying to say. However, there were some negative ones, some critical ones. Some comments telling me, and those who agreed with my criticisms, that we were entitled, that we should be thankful for getting what we get and having what we have. One person said that I would be worse off without this broken system that I was criticising, and therefore I should be thankful, and not critical.

But – is it entitled to criticise something that helps me? Is it entitled to question something that has a great impact on my life? I do not think so. I believe that providing constructive criticism is necessary. It’s my way of showing respect to a system like the NDIS, showing them that I believe they can do better.

And when it’s something that directly affects my life, I need to speak up. I need to bring up issues, and offer solutions. My kind of criticism isn’t just to drag something through the mud – it’s to highlight the weak spots and then suggest ways to bolster them and make them stronger.

Even on that video, there are hundreds of people talking about how the NDIS had left them out in the cold – I was far from the only critical voice. They had wanted very basic things, and they weren’t receiving them. Moreover, the things they wanted weren’t pulled out of thin air, they weren’t excessive – they were things the NDIS had promised, things the NDIS had offered, and then not followed through on.

If someone makes a promise, and then breaks a promise, it is not entitled to seek out answers why. If a politician comes into power on the basis of certain policies, and then does not put those policies into practice, it is not entitled to criticise them about going back on their word. It is not entitled to expect promises to be fulfilled.

You can criticise something that affects you and is meant to look after you without being entitled – if something isn’t operating in the way it’s meant to operate, you have a right to hold it to its own standard. And you adding that constructive criticism can help others in the long run, because it can help to fix the problem that is bringing on your criticism in the first place.

A huge issue with with this attitude is that it can discourage people from speaking up and making changes, because they don’t want to be seen in this negative light. People will stick to the status quo because they don’t want to be seen as entitled, as ungrateful, even if they’re wanting to make important changes to something that deeply and intrinsically affects their life.

People don’t realise that you can, in fact, be critical and grateful at the same time. You can appreciate many aspects of a system, while still seeing other aspects of it that require changing. And many systems will not change until people speak up and provide their constructive criticism.

I criticise things that affect me. I am not entitled – I speak up because I have a stake in the things I speak up about. Things need to change, and they won’t change if we stay silent. And I am simply trying to hold things to the standard they claim to hold themselves to.

And I’ll keep doing so, until those standards are raised.

Bless.