History Main / LetsSeeYOUDoBetter

* The best known example of the above law that actually involves RogerEbert comes from a [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050811/REVIEWS/50725001/1023 review]] of ''DeuceBigalow: European Gigolo''. Actor Rob Schneider took offense to an article by Patrick Goldstein of the ''Los Angeles Times'', pointing out that several major studios turned down the chance to finance the year's Best Picture nominees while financing a sequel to a crude sex comedy. After reading it, he took out a full-page ad in the ''Hollywood Reporter'' and called Goldstein a "hack" because he had never won any Pulitzer Prizes. In Ebert's review of the film, he taunted Schneider and said that he himself actually ''did'' win a Pulitzer, and thus was fully qualified to tell Schneider that he thought the movie sucked. The story took an [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming unexpected]] turn after several back-and-forth barbs in the press. After one of Ebert's cancer surgeries, Schneider sent Ebert flowers. Ebert conceded that while Schneider may make bad movies, he's a good man. Aww.

* One particularly hardcore ''StarWars'' fan was so upset about ''ThePhantomMenace'' that he cut and edited a new, more streamlined version of the film on his home computer.

* The ''StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse author Karen Traviss generally has this reaction whenever readers point out some of the inherent silliness of her work, such as [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale her ridiculously low estimate of the number of clone troopers in the Grand Army of the Republic.]] [[SeriousBusiness Then again, people have flat out threatened her over this.]] [[ExecutiveMeddling Even though she repeatedly claimed she got her figures from her bosses.]] [[AllThereInTheManual For numbers that first appeared in the]] ''AttackOfTheClones'' [[AllThereInTheManual Movie Novelization]]. [[ScapegoatCreator So she was taking flak for figures that predated her by several years in a tier of canon her critics ignorantly claimed she had no right to alter, not realizing that said claims undermined their own positions.]] Seriously, the whole thing is one massive messed up piece of idiocy.

* When the {{Mythbusters}} declared the myth about Archimedes destroying ships by reflecting sunlight busted, [[InternetBacklash many complained]] that the results weren't satisfying enough, and were biased by the conditions and poor execution. Their response was inviting anyone who felt they could do better to try and set fire to a ship in a special episode. They all failed.

* Lynn Johnston of ''ForBetterOrForWorse'' fame used to maintain a mailbag feature on her website. After letters complaining about the quality of the strip were run, it was not uncommon for others to write in saying that if the former group thought it was so bad, they should come up with their own comic strip instead.
* This is the go-to tactic of choice for defenders of FunkyWinkerbean. Most, if not all of them state verbatim that only another nationally syndicated cartoonist has a right to criticize Tom Batiuk. And the times a pro cartoonist ''has'' criticized him, they state that they're just jealous/too inexperienced/must hate cancer victims.

* While reviewing [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames the official PC game]] based on ''DirtyDancing'', [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment The Spoony One]] pre-emptively mentioned that [[InformedAbility he already has]], in fact, coded games that are better than the minigames in the game ''as homework for his software engineering course''.

* SherlockHolmes' criticism of Watson's written records of his adventures is almost a running gag in [[Creator/ArthurConanDoyle Doyle's]] works. Eventually, Watson basically told him the name of this trope enough times so that Holmes grabbed a pen and wrote "The Blanched Soldier" (where he acknowledged that it wasn't as easy as it looked at first sight).

* This is sometimes Fozzie Bears response to StatlerAndWaldorf's heckling on ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. It tends to backfire.

* Used in TheNostalgiaCritic's review of Film/{{Devil}}. When the Critic bashes the movie's TwistEnding, MNightShyamalan (not the ''real'' one, of course) challenges the Critic to come up with a better twist. He then decides on [[spoiler: the Devil being the religious security guard (aka "Crazy Toast Guy") who was monitoring the elevator the entire time]], and Shyamalan admits that that actually ''is'' a good twist.

* Used in TheNostalgiaCritic's review of Film/{{Devil}}. When the Critic bashes the movie's TwistEnding, MNightShyamalan (not the ''real'' one, of course) challenges the Critic to come up with a better twist. He then decides on [[spoiler: the Devil being the religious security guard (aka "Crazy Toast Guy")]], and Shyamalan admits that that actually ''is'' a good twist.

* Used in TheNostalgiaCritic's review of Film/{{Devil}}. When the Critic bashes the movie's TwistEnding, MNightShyamalan (not the ''real'' one, of course) challenges the Critic to come up with a better twist. He then decides on [[spoiler: the Devil being the religious security guard]], and Shyamalan admits that that actually ''is'' a good twist.

* Invoked in TheNostalgiaCritic's review of Film/{{Devil}}, when the Critic bashes the movie's TwistEnding, MNightShyamalan (not the ''real'' one, of course) challenges the Critic to come up with a better twist. He then decides on [[spoiler: the Devil being the religious security guard]], and Shyamalan admits that that actually ''is'' a good twist.

ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike can be [[SnarkBait fun]]. [[AccentuateTheNegative Picking apart works]] and trying to find and explain (and [[{{MST}} make fun of]]) some of the things that went wrong can be deeply satisfying, and at the same time strangely therapeutic. Of course, [[FanDumb some people]] take some of these criticisms [[SeriousBusiness to heart]], and won't hesitate to [[FlameWar chew you out]] if you suggest that something may be wrong with their personal sacred cow. That person will usually rebut your criticism with [[ViewerStockPhrases something like]], "Oh, yeah? Let's see ''you'' do better!"

A specific case, where the trope can be applied with impunity is when the critic claims "Everyone can do better" or something to the tune, directly claiming a group they could belong in, indeed can do better.

* In 1962, the Beatles had just released their first single, "Love Me Do." Their producer, George Martin wanted their next single to be a cover of "How Do You Do It?," but the boys weren't happy with their take on it and declined its release. Martin told them "if you can come up with a better song, do it." They recorded their original tune "Please Please Me." Martin: "Boys, you've got your first number one single."

* Creator/AlFranken wrote some funny political satire. Then people started launching this at him. So then he went and got himself elected to the Senate...

* Criticisms of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' will often be met with, "well, let's see ''you'' write a best seller." It turns out that [[MovingTheGoalPosts they won't actually care if you've written anything or not]], as when an [[Creator/StephenKing author who met this criteria]] criticized ''Twilight'', fans were quick to declare that [[YoureJustJealous he was just jealous]] because he hadn't written anything popular lately. [[Literature/UnderTheDome Even]] [[Literature/TheWindThroughTheKeyhole though]] [[Literature/{{Joyland}} he has]].

* Criticisms of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' will often be met with, "well, let's see ''you'' write a best seller." It turns out that [[MovingTheGoalPosts they won't actually care if you've written anything or not]], as when an [[Creator/StephenKing author who met this criteria]] criticized ''Twilight'', fans were quick to declare that [[YoureJustJealous he was just jealous]] because he hadn't written anything popular lately. [[Literature/UnderTheDome Even]] [[Literature/TheWindThroughTheKeyhole though]] [[Literature/Joyland he has]].

* Criticisms of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' will often be met with, "well, let's see ''you'' write a best seller." It turns out that [[MovingTheGoalPosts they won't actually care if you've written anything or not]], as when an [[Creator/StephenKing author who met this criteria]] criticized ''Twilight'', fans were quick to declare that [[YoureJustJealous he was just jealous]] because he hadn't written anything popular lately.

Just imagine if this were applied to all forms of criticism; "You think the president's doing a bad job, and want to vote for the opposing candidate? How can you even say that when ''you've'' never been president?" "You think this cake tastes bad and it's undercooked? How can you even say that when ''you've'' never been a chef?" "[[RuleOfThree You think]] [[AdolfHitler Hitler]] [[RefugeInAudacity could have done a better job during]] WorldWarII? How can you even say that when ''you've'' never been a leader of Germany who sparked a war and a Holocaust?" You clearly don't have to be good at something yourself in order to be able to tell whether someone else is good or not. This objection is rarely (if ever) raised to deflect ''positive'' criticism, but then, very few people to begin with are particularly inclined to reject positive criticism or praise, regardless of the source.

On the other hand, while all opinions may be ''valid'' this does not mean that all opinions are equally informed or useful. It can be a lot easier to sit back and criticise someone else's creation than it is to create something yourself, and it is not rare for criticism to form even without any rudimentary understanding of the difficulties inherent in producing whatever is being criticised. Anyone who's had to manage a "bigger picture" probably understands a lot better that being president can be a horrendous task, and there's much more to large-budget filmmaking than its acclaimed director. Whether the criticism is valid or not (''especially'' if valid in some cases), it can be rather disheartening and grating for a creator to have their hard work casually and bluntly dismissed by someone with no experience of what it took to produce it, thus making this response at least understandable (if not exactly admirable). At the very least, informed criticism is usually aware of when genuine effort has (or has not) been made in trying to achieve something and is willing to at least that acknowledge that effort, even if it didn't pay off, rather than dismissing the entire thing out of hand.

And this argument legitimately comes into play when someone actually ''is'' coming out and saying they could do better without producing any evidence to that effect; in such cases, it's not entirely unreasonable to ask them to put their money where their mouth is and pony up the goods.

A specific case, where LetsSeeYOUDoBetter can be applied with impunity is when the critic claims "Everyone can do better" or something to the tune, directly claiming a group they could belong in, indeed can do better.

* An urban legend says that a band once played a poor set due to their less than stellar guitarist. The band is heckled and the guitarist tells one heckler "Let's see you do better." The heckler (usually mentioned as being EricClapton) takes the guitar and blows the crowd away with his playing.

* MitchHedberg once handled a heckler by [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfuhSIaFB3g inviting the guy to come on stage and tell a joke]].

* [[WordOfGod A developer]] for ''Videogame/MechWarrior Online'' replied with "Let's see you make a better game" to a thread on the ''Online'' forums criticizing the gameplay. The response by user was "[[ScrewedByTheLawyers We did until you shut us down]]", referring to ''[=MechWarrior=] Living Legends'', a free mod for ''Videogame/{{Crysis}} Crysis Warhead'' which was killed off through legal means by ''Online'' [[note]] and (formerly) [[FanSequel officially licensed]]. ''Living Legends'''s release predates ''Online'' by two years. The ''Living Legends'' franchise license was effectively [[ScrewedByTheLawyers yanked]] by the ''Online'' developers, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen ending the mod's further development]].[[/note]]

* It's almost a given that during any ''AmericanIdol'' audition phase, at least one particularly awful auditioner will say this to the judges, which is funny when you consider that PaulaAbdul is a Grammy Award winner, and that Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell have both won awards for managing music. In other words, those two know more about what makes popular music than popular musicians do.

!!Examples:

* ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' provides an in-universe example, where God basically tells Bruce this, then gives him all of His powers for a week, save for the important one, [[spoiler: omniscience.]] Totally fair.
* In ''HappyGilmore'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlazKFGxohM&feature=related this is what leads to Happy discovering his talent.]]
* From the 1940 film ''EdisonTheMan'':
--> '''Thomas Edison:''' That spring is too strong, it won't work.\\
'''Workman:''' I'd like to see you make a better one.\\
'''Thomas Edison:''' Well, a fellow can tell a bad egg without being able to lay one.

* An in-universe example: SherlockHolmes' criticism of Watson's written records of his adventures is almost a running gag in [[Creator/ArthurConanDoyle Doyle's]] works. Eventually, Watson basically told him the name of this trope enough times so that Holmes grabbed a pen and wrote "The Blanched Soldier" (where he acknowledged that it wasn't as easy as it looked at first sight).
* Another in-universe example from DavidEddings: an administrator in the Tamul Empire (an ersatz Imperial China) explaining that the appearance of revolutionaries in a province of the empire was an indication that something had gone seriously wrong (as Tamul acted as BenevolentTyrants). Since the revolutionaries had already identified the problems the pragmatic solution was simply to replace the incompetent imperial governors with the revolutionaries. This was also an IronicPunishment as being an imperial governor was one of the most thankless jobs in the empire. NO-ONE liked the governor.

* Numerous DomCom programs through the 1990s employed this "job switching"-type trope, under two varieties: the domestic partners (i.e., the husband and wife) will switch roles for a day; or the kids will take over the parents' role. Either way, it is certain that both sides will become enlightened by the difficulties of the other's role and the whole situation will be called a draw.
** The most famous "let's just see you do better" example was the ''ILoveLucy'' episode "Job Switching." After Ricky and Lucy get into an argument about their roles – Ricky being the breadwinner and Lucy doing the housework – and drawing the Mertzes into matters (with Fred and Ethel, predictably, taking sides), both sides say, in essence," "Let's see you do better." There's plenty of comedy with Ricky and Fred's efforts to cook dinner (arroz con pollo) and ruining their shirts in a poor attempt at ironing ... but the real fun comes as Lucy and Ethel somehow get jobs at a candy factory. A hilarious fight in the candy dipping department, instigated when Lucy tries to swat away a fly and accidentally hits a co-worker, is '''''NOTHING''''' compared to the infamous conveyer belt scene, where a seemingly simple task of gathering chocolate kisses and placing them in a box quickly proves to be overwhelming when the fast pace of the belt (''and'' the supervisor's stern threat that any candy that falls off the belt will mean they're fired) make it impossible to keep up, although they surely try. In the end, both sides – the guys admitting they damaged the apartment, the gals getting mercilessly fired from the candy factory – concede defeat.

** A similar example from the Swedish show "Let's Dance" (the Swedish adaptation of ''Series/StrictlyComeDancing''). When a turned-down contestant said this, the show lampshaded it by cutting to a montage, explaining the judges past experience in the field, showing that they are in fact qualified for the position.

* This is sometimes Fozzie Bears response to StatlerAndWaldorf's heckling on ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. It tends to backfire.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuIo6gv8VB8 Case in point.]]

* Often invoked in-universe by {{heel}}s who lecture the crowd for their criticism of them by combining this trope with YoureJustJealous and UngratefulBastard. Of course, the heel [[ComicallyMissingThePoint never quite understands]] that the crowds are not criticizing his in-ring skills, but his obnoxious, cowardly, {{Jerkass}} behavior.

[[folder:Theater]]
* [[AVeryPotterSequel "Oh, yeah Lupin? Let's see you sing something better right now!"]]
[[/folder]]

* Happens in-universe early on in ''VideoGame/TheWarriors''. The game opens in 1978, when several of the gang members we remember from TheMovie [[DefectorFromDecadence quit the Destroyers]] (a rival gang on the other side of Coney Island) because they don't like the way the gang boss, Virgil, has been treating them. Virgil's attitude is, basically, good riddance: "They couldn't cut it with us, so now [[StartMyOwn they're gonna try to take over]]. Well, I say let 'em try!" This boast eventually [[EpicFail backfires spectacularly]] when, [[ContinuityNod later in the game]], the Destroyers are totally wiped out and Virgil himself is [[ManOnFire executed by Molotov cocktail]] while screaming hysterically.

* Criticisms of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' will often be met with, "well, let's see ''you'' write a best seller." It turns out that [[MovingTheGoalPosts they won't actually care if you've written anything or not]], as when an [[Creator/StephenKing author who met this criteria]] criticized ''Twilight'', fans were quick to declare that [[YoureJustJealous he was just jealous]] because he hadn't written anything popular lately.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* After Elly of ''TheWordWeary'' criticizes a woman's parenting skills, the woman [[http://wordwearycomic.blogspot.com/2012/04/5-april-2012.html responds with a variation on this.]]
* In [[http://www.xkcd.com/277/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{Xkcd}}'' comic, a man complains about a long traffic light, whereupon the engineer of the traffic light appears and responds with this.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* There was a ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode where Cartman made the morning announcements and relentlessly and mercilessly picked apart everything Wendy did as a class president. As her way of asking Cartman if he could do better, Wendy simply resigned from her spot and let Cartman take over. This actually got Cartman to shut up, as he was prepared to only criticize, not ''act''.
** And, of course, there was the fact that the class president had no real authority to begin with. Since Cartman convinced everyone in school to "ask questions"(i.e. Blame the most prominent authority figure available for anything and everything), he was left [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with everyone in school blaming him for all manner of problems that he in no way had the power to solve.]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' when Bart is kicked out of Mr. Burns' casino and notes the martinis suck, the Squeaky Voiced Teen challenges him to have his own casino in his treehouse. Bart does just that, leading the teen to note how he was shown up.
** In "Bart Star" Homer constantly taunts Ned about his coaching.
-->'''Marge''': You know, Homer, its very easy to criticize.\\
'''Homer''': Fun, too.
** When Flanders has enough, he gives Homer the position.
-->'''Ned''': Do you have a problem with the way I'm coaching?\\
'''Homer''': No! No! No no no. Its just that... well... like I was yelling earlier... seems like... anyone with half a brain can coach better than you.\\
'''Ned''': Half a brain, huh? Well, you know what? Sounds like you just volunteered!\\
'''Homer''': Me? But you were doing such a great job!
* Used during an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. Mere minutes from his [[ExecutiveMeddling horrible television pilot]] going on the air, Brian notices the cast of ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' standing there.
-->'''CharlieSheen''': You're always saying our show sucks. Let's see yours.
** [[TheCameo Bonus points for actually getting Sheen to do the voice.]]
** Another episode had Meg and Chris claim they could be better parents than Peter and Lois, who gladly oblige. Then it turns out that the kids are right: Meg does the chores in a fraction of the time Lois takes and prepares a delicious dinner, while Chris actually earns a promotion in his father's job at the brewery near-immediately. Then the stress of his workload causes Chris to have a heart attack, and [[StatusQuoIsGod everything goes back to normal]].
** To twist the knife even further, Peter and Lois completely screw up in high school and are even less popular than Chris and Meg usually are; meanwhile Peter's boss pretty much refuses to let them switch back until the above happens because Chris is such a better worker than Peter ever was.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Statesmen or generals use this defense in their memoirs, all the way back to ancient times.
* Parliamentary systems such as the UK run on this. If the government of the day doesn't have the confidence of Parliament, they resign and the head of state has the option of either asking another member of Parliament to form a new government (if they can find sufficient votes in government), or call a general election to elect a new Parliament. Macaulay, in his History of England, notes that this practice forces the Parliamentary opposition to be more serious about the business of government, compared with earlier when ministers continued in position without having the support of a majority of Parliament.
** An interesting variant on that occurred when JohnMajor challenged his critics within the Conservative party to "put up or shut up" - he resigned from the leadership of his party, though not from the office of prime minister, and contested a snap election for party leader. He won, but in the event that he'd been defeated, his victorious opponent would most likely have become prime minister and served as such for the remainder of that parliamentary term.
* In the restaurant chain [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_John%27s Jimmy John's]], individual restaurants all use the same posters on the walls. One of these posters reads, "If you want a faster sandwich, make it yourself!"
* Something of a subversion when ''YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'' was on the air, a boy named Adam Reid complained about the acting of the kids on the show. The producers let him audition and he ended up being one of the show's standouts.

Just imagine if this were applied to all forms of criticism; "You think the president's doing a bad job, and want to vote for the opposing candidate? How can you even say that when ''you've'' never been president?" "You think this cake tastes bad and it's undercooked? How can you even say that when ''you've'' never been a chef?" "[[RuleOfThree You think]] [[AdolfHitler Hitler]] [[RefugeInAudacity could have done a better job during]] WorldWarII? How can you even say that when ''you've'' never been a leader of Germany who sparked a war and a Holocaust?" You clearly don't have to be good at something yourself in order to be able to tell whether someone else is good or not. Perhaps strangely, however, this objection is rarely (if ever) raised to deflect ''positive'' criticism.

On the other hand, while all opinions may be ''valid'' this does not mean that all opinions are equally informed or useful. It is not rare for criticism to form even without any rudimentary understanding of the difficulties inherent in whatever is being criticized. Anyone who's had to manage a "bigger picture" probably understands a lot better that being president can be a horrendous task, and there's much more to large-budget filmmaking than its acclaimed director.