Emphasize the Flaws

This morning’s Oblique Strategies card suggested that I “emphasize the flaws.”

I wondered: Isn’t a flaw only then a flaw when it gets emphasized? Put another way: What needs to happen during or after observing something to turn that something into a flaw?

Some people reading my work (here or in other places) might shake their heads at all those flaws in my writing. But a small handful told me that they calmed down considerably as soon as they learned that I’m not a native English speaker.

Then, all of a sudden, flaws turned into character. This seems to apply to other flaws as well: What looks like OCD for one person is perfectly normal behavior for another. Some get furious when they see a misplaced, comma, while others shrug their shoulders and read on: Flaws seem, mostly, relative to the viewer’s perception and conviction.

Emphasizing flaws = emphasizing character?