Much of it might be unwarranted and little more than ill-informed noise from keyboard warriors.
There may also be some valid critiquing of your behaviour and a need for you to reflect on that.
That ability to take on board other views becomes critical when that criticism comes from people you are supposed to be working alongside, is persistent, and also involves formal procedures investigating your behaviour and finding it wanting.
But newly minted Dunedin city councillor Benedict Ong has shown he is unable to do this.
Yesterday, when the council was considering whether he had breached its code of conduct and if it would impose a penalty for that, he was given an opportunity to explain himself.
Standing orders were even relaxed so he could have 30 minutes to state his case, should he wish to do so.
It might have been good for him to apologise for his behaviour, and to vow to do better in future.
But there was none of that.
Instead, Cr Ong, complete with theatrical gestures, chose to read a piece from Franz Kafka’s The Trial, a novel which tells the story of a man accused and prosecuted for a crime which remains a mystery to him and the reader.
It does not end well.
The council, with the exception of Crs Russell Lund and Lee Vandervis, voted he had materially breached the code of conduct and invited him to consider resigning from the council.
The code of conduct case against him involved what independent investigator Steph Dyhrberg described as egregious behaviour towards a staff member witness in an earlier code case he had brought against another councillor.
Ms Dyhrberg had dismissed the case Cr Ong brought against Cr John Chambers after a preliminary investigation.
Nobody should be victimised or discredited for agreeing to participate in the code of conduct process, she said.
As well as the invitation to him to consider resigning, at yesterday’s meeting, in a separate agenda item, a majority of councillors approved of the actions of Mayor Sophie Barker in removing Cr Ong from his deputy role in the technology portfolio and from his representation on the Otago Settlers Association and the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum Board.
Her actions followed ongoing concerns about the way he was engaging with her, the chief executive, staff, councillors and council guests.
This action will mean a pay cut for Cr Ong, with the extra money distributed to other councillors, something not all were comfortable with.
Cr Ong has told media he has no intention of resigning and is determined to serve the community for the next two and a-half years.
But serving the community does not involve ridiculously trying to portray yourself as the victim when you are the one at fault, not grasping the importance of confidentiality, or the difference between governance and management, and not understanding how to communicate properly with staff and fellow councillors.
He says he wants to freeze rates rises and increase the revenue from council-owned assets, but his theatrics do nothing to further that cause.
If your fellow councillors are constantly frustrated by the way you behave, how likely are they to support anything you propose?
If he is determined to stay on, and he does have every right to do that, he needs to properly come to grips with his role.
That will involve ensuring his contributions are relevant, that he behaves properly to others, and resists the urge to post nonsense on Facebook.
Continuing to play the misunderstood martyr will be a lonely and pointless path.
Since Cr Ong is a Kafka fan, perhaps it is time for him to give some thought to his famous quote about mortality — "The meaning of life is that it stops" — to his time on council.
In other words, do the utmost in the time until the next election to show his life as a councillor has been significant and memorable, because so far it has achieved little more than self-aggrandisement.
