Because criticism is a partisan intervention in an art form (regardless of its frequent claims to objectivity), I have to begin my response to the statements of the three critics’ organizations by declaring my own position. Although I have been a critic for a number of years I am not a member of any of these organizations. I did sit on the Toronto Drama Bench a few seasons ago, in which capacity I attended several lunch meetings before drifting away. I had nothing against the people who comprised the organization; they were as varied and interesting a bunch as one might find in any professional association. It was rather the idea of criticism as a profession that bothered me.