From another perspective, Maurice Berger argues in the opening of his book "The Crisis of Criticism," that "Criticism must strive to be as resonate as the art it interprets, but not condescending" (Berger 10). Some critics forget this important point and lose sight of the bigger picture. Most art is a reflection of cultural ideologies, a marriage of aesthetics and changing values with a fee and price tag attached.
In sum, Arlene Croce concludes that she can scarcely remember when today's critic was so nonessential, but I argue that her reasoning may be skewed. She feels that modern criticisms need to return to the time of the Greeks, because they were a nation of critics. Yet Socrates and his fellow philosophers fought for a polis where the rights of individual thought and expression would be rewarded. It seems to me that Croce is really advocating a censorship in art, at the discretion of the critic.
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