Why did “be critical of your media” turn into “find all its flaws and hate it” why did people become allergic to FUN

Because people confuse “critical as in critical thinking” with “critical as in criticizing something,” so they think that “look for something bad, no matter how far-fetched” is what “being critical” means.

They also don’t realize that “literary criticism” means…

Okay. What literary criticism IS, is like taking a mechanical clock apart to see all the gears and learn how it fits together and approach your next clock with more knowledge of what makes it tick.

What they THINK literary criticism means is, you take the clock apart and beat all the pieces with a hammer, then scream at it because it doesn’t tick for you the way it used to.

OMG SOMEBODY PUT IT IN WORDS

It’s all well and good to use “be critical of what you consume” to mean “don’t follow things blindly and acknowledge their flaws” but this mindset fails to take into account that everything has flaws. An unproblematic fave is just a fave you haven’t looked at from all angles yet. If you go through life like this hoping to find something morally pure to consume you’re just going to be miserable.