Haha thank you for the book rec!!

100% agree. I also think platforms like Twitter, with their character limits, have conditioned us all to go for punchy and reductive, and like you say, put so much weight on our gut reaction to things there's no room to let an idea sit for a while and tease it out fully

I think sometimes people don't distinguish between subjective and objective criticism. So sometimes people subjectively don't like something and so they assume it has absolutely nothing to offer anyone. And then similarly sometimes something appeals to someone's subjective tastes and then they decide that anyone else looking at it MUST have the same reaction because any other reaction is somehow threatening to your ability to feel positively about it. So like, someone should be able to read a book, and it doesn't relate to them at all on any level, not one of their most exciting or stimulating reading experiences, but still acknowledge that it's well written. And vice versa, someone should be able to read a book and it blows their mind, is a window into their soul, changed their life, but still acknowledge yeah you know, issues here or there that might be more significant to a reader not having the same emotional response I am.
But you know, for a culture so obsessed with how complex identity is, we're not great at engaging with any kind of duality