[b_sharp]

"Example: If we're talking about the history of life on Earth, I don't want to see Isaac Newton and Werner Von Braun."

Thanks. I was hoping someone would see through my muddle and clarify it for others.

[VadeRetro]

It's a favorite gripe of mine. People who don't really have too many experts on their side--their basic thesis being that the whole body of modern scholarship on the current topic is just wrong--will reach for support anywhere they can. Thus, they favor obviously inappropriate authorities over the only appropriate ones.