Experts should not be disregarded because of the work they put in – quite the opposite, in fact.
I do not consider myself an expert at anything.
Nope, I am not an expert. Experienced? To be sure. Knowledgeable? Absolutely. A master? Maybe, but only because what mastery I have isn’t the end-all-be-all, and I am still learning/developing/growing/evolving.
The number of things any of us can know and learn are uncountable. Even with everything you might know – there are far more things you don’t. And this is true of everyone.
How many languages do we speak on this planet? I doubt that anyone knows them all. Science, philosophy, art, you name it – there is more to be known and learned than we know and learn.
Some people, however, put a tremendous amount of focus, energy, and time into a given topic. They learn as much as they can – to the point where they become a foremost authority on the subject matter.
That is an expert. Someone who knows a lot about the topic they focus on. To gain that place, they kept on studying the subject matter, finding new evidence, learning, evolving, and so on.
And – a true expert knows that change is constant. Thus, that which they are an expert about will change.
We need those experts. Why? Because the authorities on various topics give the rest of us somewhere to strive to go to. They show us ways to grow, change, and gain more experience on our own.
Yet – more and more, experts are getting disregarded. Why?
The reality of equality and inequality
In an effort over the last several decades to create more equality in the world – greater inequality has come into being.
What do I mean? Let’s take participation trophies as a perfect example. When you take away winners versus losers to create equality – you remove drive. Why bother to be better when we’re all going to be equal, anyhow?
But worse than that – you tell the same people that merit doesn’t matter. You don’t need to win – you’re awesome just for trying. That, then, gets spread out further. Why should merit make anyone better than anyone else?
The thing is – it doesn’t. At least, not in regards to equality. But it does create examples for how to be better. As a runner in a race, for example, just because you crossed the finish line doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to do it faster next time. If the fastest runner is treated exactly the same as the slowest – the message is clear. Who cares if you put any effort out at all?
Why is anyone surprised today when people reject medical and scientific experts? Two or three decades of denying the importance of merit has disempowered everyone.
When we deny the need for experts and the merit of them, we create a false inequality. People see experts and intellectuals as “elitists” and acting “better than” them – and then deny the knowledge they share for the greater good.
For example – everyone still wearing masks and practicing social distancing in the ongoing pandemic – following expert advice – are suspect. They’re are seen as “snowflakes” and other derogative terms by those who don’t recognize the importance of merit and expertise. This creates a false inequality that does nothing but harm us all.
True experts share their knowledge
The idea of cultural elites – or in modern American political parlance, “coastal liberals”, is a false equivalency. It gets used and abused by certain “leaders” to stir anger, disconnect, and disempower their followers. They then claim the whole reason these “experts” want you to follow their lead is to take away your freedom, rights, or what-have-you.
True experts in their fields don’t hoard their knowledge. They readily share, pass on information, and strive to get the message out to as many as they can. True experts don’t keep info to themselves, nor do they use it against others. They share.
And why wouldn’t they? That’s what, to me, makes someone an expert. They know what they know, know it really, really well, and want to pass it on.
Nobody likes a sore winner any more than they like a sore loser. I’d even argue a sore winner is worse. Nobody likes a bully – unless that bully has gaslit them into believing they have the cares and concerns of anyone other than themselves at heart.
Ever notice how the people who most disregard experts and those who gain their place via merit are either bullies themselves, or those who have been bullied by the bullies? All you have to do is look at numerous elements of American business and politics and it’s plain as the nose on your face.
Do you truly believe doctors and scientists offer the advice they do to somehow restrict your freedoms? Impose on your life experience? Seek to inconvenience you? Because if you do – here’s the questions I’d like an answer to. Why? To what end? For what purpose? What do you think they get out of it?
Do the work, get the respect – but be respectful
I believe that if someone does the work to gain expertise – they should be respected. I didn’t go to medical school – so I sure as hell don’t know as much about medicine as a doctor. Not even close.
But – and here is where we hit a problem – some of those experts aren’t respectful. I know too many women who went to a doctor for something very specific – and yet were bombarded by unrelated matters. They weren’t shown respect – which led them to not respect the experts because of bad experiences.
But apart from the bad eggs – and there will always be bad eggs – experts and those who got where they are on merit shouldn’t be so readily disregarded. Especially for inexpert notions, opinion, and personal theorems with ZERO scientific or logical basis.
The internet – the greatest potential place of knowledge and information – is also the single biggest source of lies and disinformation. Lots of people come across as so-called “authorities” who lack any expertise or merit. And yet – because they’re loud – they are paid attention to. And they take away from true experts and the meritorious.
What, you might be wondering, do experts and merit have to do with writing and art? Because experts and those who have gotten where they are on the merit of their work lead us to grow and evolve as artists, too.
Experts in the arts
Experts in the arts take different forms. Some do the art they are experts in well. The most impressive writers, actors, painters, and so on are the experts in their field. Some are academic experts – those who don’t do the art – but analyze it in its various forms and can tell us numerous elements about it.
True experts in their arts share their knowledge. They strive to teach us to be better with our art.
For example – Paulo Coelho and Neil Gaiman. Both authors post blogs and do work to help others gain more knowledge in their work. Each of these writers – who represent vastly different genres – strives to share their expertise and help others develop, grow, and evolve.
Without experts in their fields – including the arts – where would we get external goals to strive for? Sure, being better in and of ourselves is super important. But at the same time – improving in other ways, growing, and evolving, requires us to have something to look to.
Hence why experts and those who have achieved something via true meritocracy shouldn’t be so readily disregarded. They largely work to make the world a better place, not to take anything away from anyone else due to their knowledge.
This is one reason why I strive to gain mastery as a writer. Not so that I can prove I’m better than anyone else. But rather, so that I can be an example of experience and expertise to help others strive, develop, grow, and evolve.
True experts don’t deny expertise to others. They seek to spread knowledge and help others gain more, too.
If you disregard the experts – ask yourself why? Do you think their expertise makes you somehow less than them? Because we need them and their expertise for the betterment of us all.
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