4 ms·
The problem of getting a lay audience to understand policy based off of specialized knowledge is non-trivial (as any engineer knows very well). "What can we say
by wwweston 6y ago
The problem of getting a lay audience to understand policy based off of specialized knowledge is non-trivial (as any engineer knows very well). "What can we say today so that people will be ready to hear what we need to say tomorrow?" sounds less like manipulation and more like acknowledging that getting buy-in isn't merely a process of dumping factual knowledge, something that seems pretty well borne out by the public conversation that's played out over the last 2-3 months.
Some people do seem to feel like accepting social authority of any kind is too parental, whether it's expertise or civil order. That may be more behaving like children than being treated like them, though.
- babesh 6y agoYou have to try first and oftentimes if you can’t explain it clearly then your understanding of the subject isn’t keen enough.
- rapind 6y agoAn obvious problem with the general populace understanding specialized knowledge is that we need a trustworthy source to explain it. Every major news outlet has become blatently partisan in recent years (many long before). NYT eliminated their ombudsman years ago (3 years ago I think), and television media has always been even worse. Is it really that surprising when people don't trust what they hear and gravitate towards conspiracies and bullshit? The public has become hyper allergic to expertise. The repurcussions of this is pretty scary.