Birdnow's Aviary

June 05, 2021

Experts vs. Collective Wisdom

From Lance Sjogren:

Quote of the day. Matt Taibbi responds to the authoritarian leftist media who complain that he and other liberals appear on conservative media (because conservative media are willing to air diverse points of view while the corporate establishment left is only willing to air the official dogma of the ruling class.)

"The truth is, Trump conservatives and ACLU-raised liberals like myself, Greenwald, and millions of others do have real common cause, against an epistemic revolution taking hold in Americaâ€™s political and media elite. The traditional liberal approach to the search for truth, which stresses skepticism and free-flowing debate, is giving way to a reactionary movement that Plato himself would have loved, one that believes knowledge is too dangerous for the rabble and must be tightly regulated by a priesthood of "experts.â€ Itâ€™s anti-democratic , un-American, and naturally unites the residents of even the most extreme opposite ends of our national political spectrum."

And I would add, the half-witted "experts" who are today's arbiters of truth are frequently proven dead wrong. The latest high-profile example being the issue of the origin of Covid-19. Shame that so many people rot their brains with the sludge from the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, etc.

Tim adds:

One of the prime differences between liberals and conservatives is our view of reason and intellect. Liberals have always held an elitist view, and worship at the feet of "experts" on the theory that they are more knowledgeable and should be believed. Conservatives have generally held to the idea of collective wisdom,that the more minds working on a problem the better. Ours takes the position that an expert is merely a person who says he is and has some sort of degree or other credential, but is not necessarily any more fit or insightful to give an opinion than anyone else. The Progressive worldview revolves around the ideas of a technocracy, and Plato did Mankind a huge disservice with The Republic by hatching up the terrible idea of a "Philosopher King". In point of fact separating the rulers from the advisers is the best policy; to acquire vast amounts of knowledge in any field necessitates deep study which means shorting understanding in other areas. A true leader is a bit of a dilletant; he knows a little on a lot of subjects and has people to go in-depth for him when he needs it. Putting the scientist or the academic in charge always winds up disastrous; they have a lot of theory but no practical understanding.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:49 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 BTW, Tim: I believe Plato eventually abandoned (perhaps "recanted" is too strong a word?) his "Utopia" ideas. Did he in the same process abandon the Philosopher Kings bit? I have to admit my Plato is not only rusty but totally gone. I always liked Aristotle better, though I'm hardly an expert on him either, but my impression is that Aristotle would have understood the modern world better than Plato, and have understood the results of his philosophies insomuch as they have been followed.

Posted by: Dana Mathewson at June 05, 2021 08:59 PM (6H7jI)

2 That's what I've always heard Dana; Plato disavowed a lot of what he peddled in Republic. Sadly, the modernist do not and still use it as a guiding principle.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at June 06, 2021 07:59 AM (ElVfe)

3 BTW Movies had Dr. Zhivago on last night. Yuri Andropov/Strelnikov was a typical utopian liberal, too stupid to realize he wasn't as smart as he thought and determined to implement his program. It was fitting given the modern times we live in.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at June 06, 2021 08:01 AM (ElVfe)

4 Regarding "utopian liberal," well, there's a lot of it going around these days, isn't there? And if you really study history, the main bones of Utopia were to be found in the fledgling United States of America. If by Utopia you mean the best for everyone (as long as he was willing to work for it, which wasn't in Plato), you have the bones of it. And the Founders knew that the slavery issue would have to be solved, just not in their time.

From what I'm reading these days, I think I'd rather have been a slave on Washington's or Jefferson's holdings than work for Amazon.

Posted by: Dana Mathewson at June 06, 2021 08:46 PM (6H7jI)

5 Amen to all Dana! America really WAS the utopian dream.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at June 07, 2021 06:50 AM (YkwA4)

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