Why Don’t Americans Trust Experts Anymore? | Amanpour and Company

This was a really interesting interview with Tom Nichols. He wrote a book in 2017 called The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters

We all know everything and we're never wrong.

Americans trust experts. They just have a keen instinct for politicos wearing “expert” masks to try to fool them. They also want to hear from all the experts, unfiltered.

Trust should be earned, not assumed.

Its not just America, Its caused by the internet and the 24 news cycle.

Wandering Monk said:

This was a really interesting interview with Tom Nichols. He wrote a book in 2017 called The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters

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I think Americans trust experts in some fields. Even those who might apparently reject science, it's only in certain areas. They might still accept science when it comes to bigger and better weapons and other tools of war. And we all like gadgets and electricity and all the other wonders of modern science and technology.

However, I think there's been an air of suspicion and cynicism among the general public, which has existed for quite some time. Ever since the JFK assassination, Vietnam, Watergate, etc., there's been an underlying mistrust of "The Man," the "establishment," or whatever term one might use. Coupled with that is a certain rebellious sub-culture which has also existed from the very beginning of America.

The speaker in the video mentioned 1 in 100 in each town who had wacko views, but there's also those who wouldn't necessarily go that far, yet still would share a general skepticism and mistrust of the government and media. This is natural and even healthy in a free society, when kept within reason. But sometimes it can go too far.

You're not much of an expert if you can't get expert results.

bobhikes said:

Its not just America, Its caused by the internet and the 24 news cycle.

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Prior to the Brexit vote in 2016, government minister Michael Gove refused to name any expert economists who supported leaving the EU (because leaving the EU is an idiotic act of economic self harm). He infamously said "People have had enough of experts."

Of course, that was before Covid. Now the government is advising the population led totally by experts. (Brits will know that the instructions on lockdown apply to absolutely everyone, apart from the Prime Minister's right hand man Dominic Cummings who can do whatever the **** he wants to and seemingly that's OK).