‘Experts’ Know Less than They Think - All ‘authorities’ should be challenged.

American Thinker ^ | 13 Mar, 2026 | J.B. Shurk

[MtnClimber]

Occasionally I hear credentialed professionals with prestigious titles whine about the so-called “war on expertise.” It really bothers people who see themselves as “experts” that a growing share of society ignores them. A psychologist might intuit something revealing from the lack of self-confidence plaguing our “expert” class. If all the fancy degrees, voluminous curricula vitae, and lofty career positions have failed to instill a resilient modicum of self-esteem, then perhaps all those things are not the true measures of a person’s worth.

“Experts” do not like to be challenged. They say things such as, “I have a PhD in this,” or, “I get paid a lot of money to talk about that,” and expect everybody listening to stop thinking and immediately agree with everything the “expert” has to say. I once witnessed a young “race studies” professor intrude into an online debate and tell everyone that she was correct and everybody else was wrong. Her evidence? She cited the costs of her education, her recent promotion, and her new annual salary. Traditionally, that’s considered a specific kind of logical fallacy known as an appeal to authority. When appeals to “expertise” replace reason and rationality, false conclusions are more easily justified.

We have been living in an era rife with appeals to authority masquerading as truth. In fact, I came across something hilariously unsurprising as I was writing this essay. Because Internet search engines no longer operate as research tools but rather as propaganda aggregators, I often have to peruse many pages of search results before I find topical and pertinent sources. Leftwing disinformation index Wikipedia routinely receives prime placement for any online query. I decided to check how the propagandists at Wikipedia describe appeals to authority these days, and the editors did not disappoint (someone as cynical as I):

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TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: experts; leftism; propagandists; topmen

[MtnClimber]

Dr Fauci, please pick up the white courtesy telephone. An idiot has a question.

[Libloather]

Experts are experts for a reason.

[logi_cal869]

“Experts” = “so-called smart people” = “normally intelligent”

Deserving of such slurs, they are. Common sense trumps them every time.

[asinclair]

To understand the word, you have to break it into its component parts.

X is a mathematical quantity denoting an unknown.

SPURT is a drip of water under pressure.

Therefore, an X-SPURT is an unknown drip under pressure.

[NorthMountain]

This article will certainly appeal to those who know little, but feel that they know much.

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[shotgun]

My dad railed against all the “assperts” in government since the mid 60’s. He would always say that WW2 was won with more people with only an 8th grade education than a college degree ( he was a WW2 combat vet) Then he would go on about the “professional students” that never leave college.

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[MtnClimber]

Experts that work for government are usually just politicians.

[T.B. Yoits]

[T.B. Yoits]

[bk1000]

“When you hand your brain to third-parties, don’t be surprised to discover that “experts” value your life less than you do.”

I’ll never understand how people completely succumbed to Fauci and Scarf Lady. Neither of them impressed me as genuine. Not for one minute. I’m pretty skeptical in general. When we went out for the first time during covid, we were expecting to see bodies in the streets, people keeling over, pandemonium. There was none of that. The local hospital wasn’t even busy. People were looking at each other wondering what was happening. Most quickly realized it was a hoax. A good many sheep still wear those silly masks today.