Call it Crowdsourcing; Call it Folk Wisdom. It's Still Dumb.

[rinue]

I am tired of people having opinions on the recession who are not economics Nobellists.

I am tired of people having opnions on the war in Afganistan who are not four-star generals or high-ranking members of the State Department.

I am tired of people having opinions on the safety of medications who are not doctors, who say "well, my cousin's friend took it and a month later had a c-section instead of delivering vaginally, so draw your own conclusions."

I do not believe in the wisdom of the common man. Please keep it to yourself. Even if you're paid a lot, or widely recognized, it's not for this.

Comments

[liquidmorpheme.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Despite the pomo criticisms, the public sphere is in desperate need of informed rational argument. Except what I think REALLY needs to happen is the experts need to draw the informed rational conclusions and deliver them in achingly stupid, logically flawed but popularly compelling narrative that's irritating to argue with, so that people will starting believe them.