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> Thousands of Americans are alive because of Arthur A. Allen. And thousands of people are alive around the world because of the work he did here. No one knows

> Thousands of Americans are alive because of Arthur A. Allen. And thousands of people are alive around the world because of the work he did here. No one knows who he is. No one pays any attention to him. They furloughed him as if he’s useless. I’m a big fan of Michael Lewis, although I don’t agree with his politics. Here, I think Michael Lewis gets it completely wrong. I’m one of those people who doesn’t trust the “experts”. I’m not against career experts. I certainly don’t agree with political games where politicians periodically shut down the government and create this public spectacle. My problem is with the so called experts who are merely entertainers at best and truly political hacks who claim that they have science and data to back up their political leanings. In reality, we don’t know where their data came from, if it is correct, if it is misrepresented or deliberately fudged. But these people and their political backers have this arrogant quality of telling everyone else that they’re wrong, that even if they look outside and see the sky is blue, it’s actually orange because their favorite organization did a study and concluded their reality is the universal truth. I don’t trust the experts because the so called experts are disconnected from reality on so many topics that impact me day to day, and they’re not open to a debate or civil discourse. If you disagree with then, they start shouting that we’re all stupid, that we’re racists, that we hate gay people, Jews, and Muslims. Of course… so the way many people respond to this is simply dismissing these “experts” as political hacks and nothing more.

throwaway82652 4y ago
In this comment, it appears you took the word "expert" and defined it to mean "people who aren't actually experts" and then used that to dismiss them. I hope you can understand this isn't a useful way to approach the conversation. If you're getting accused of being racist and bigoted towards gay people, Jews, and Muslims, it would help to make an honest and friendly effort to spend your time reaching out and helping those people, rather than getting distracted with what these "political hacks" are saying.
- native_samples 4y ago
  It seems pretty useful. A big reason trust in experts is falling is because the label is so often wrongly applied to people who have no concrete demonstrable expertise but merely work for the right sort of institutions or have the right sort of politics. The word expert has become nearly as useless as the word racist or fascist. Example: Imagine you're reading an article about the tech industry and you read the phrase, "according to experts". Do you think the people about to be quoted will be actual tech industry workers, or, academics? Almost always it's going to be the latter and you can repeat that for almost any field.
- letitbeirie 4y ago
  It brings up a valid concern. If the media (acting as the experts' proxy to the public) continually fail to distinguish between actual experts and political hacks is it really reasonable to expect other non-experts to do better?
- ozzythecat 4y ago
  > In this comment, it appears you took the word "expert" and defined it to mean "people who aren't actually experts" and then used that to dismiss them. I hope you can understand this isn't a useful way to approach the conversation. Who exactly did I dismiss? Can you provide an example?

throwaway82652 4y ago

In this comment, it appears you took the word "expert" and defined it to mean "people who aren't actually experts" and then used that to dismiss them. I hope you can understand this isn't a useful way to approach the conversation. If you're getting accused of being racist and bigoted towards gay people, Jews, and Muslims, it would help to make an honest and friendly effort to spend your time reaching out and helping those people, rather than getting distracted with what these "political hacks" are saying.

native_samples 4y ago
It seems pretty useful. A big reason trust in experts is falling is because the label is so often wrongly applied to people who have no concrete demonstrable expertise but merely work for the right sort of institutions or have the right sort of politics. The word expert has become nearly as useless as the word racist or fascist. Example: Imagine you're reading an article about the tech industry and you read the phrase, "according to experts". Do you think the people about to be quoted will be actual tech industry workers, or, academics? Almost always it's going to be the latter and you can repeat that for almost any field.
letitbeirie 4y ago
It brings up a valid concern. If the media (acting as the experts' proxy to the public) continually fail to distinguish between actual experts and political hacks is it really reasonable to expect other non-experts to do better?
ozzythecat 4y ago
> In this comment, it appears you took the word "expert" and defined it to mean "people who aren't actually experts" and then used that to dismiss them. I hope you can understand this isn't a useful way to approach the conversation. Who exactly did I dismiss? Can you provide an example?