{"id":2891,"date":"2020-04-25T09:37:28","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T13:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2891"},"modified":"2020-04-25T09:37:35","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T13:37:35","slug":"experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/04\/25\/experts\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Career<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After a career in education, it\u2019s difficult to say what I\u2019m an \u201cexpert\u201d in.  I spent twenty-eight years in the classroom, teaching social studies courses from world history to economics to government.  I was a good teacher, but I don\u2019t know that I’d ever call myself an \u201cexpert\u201d.  There were teachers who were better at the \u201cjargon\u201d, and better at the paperwork. And there were teachers who did a better job of communicating with parents.  I was good, and I knew my subjects and I knew kids \u2013 but I don\u2019t know if I was an \u201cexpert\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I spent forty years coaching track and field.\u00a0\u00a0I earned a Masters Degree in the sport. Then, I spent years coaching every event, from shot put to long distance.\u00a0\u00a0I had success in almost every area, but the most important thing I learned is to find other good coaches to work with, and let them do their job.\u00a0\u00a0After all those years, it’s hard to say if I was an \u201cexpert\u201d in any one event, except maybe pole vaulting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pole Vault<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The pole vault is that event where an athlete takes a long fiberglass pole, runs down towards a big foam mat, and uses the pole to jump over an increasingly higher bar.  I started coaching the event in 1982, because I couldn\u2019t find the \u201cgood coach\u201d to work with.  I focused on learning the event, serving a kind of broad apprenticeship with some of the best coaches in the United States.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had a lot of success, and after all the years, I might be considered an \u201cexpert\u201d in high school pole vaulting.  At least, I\u2019m \u201cexpert\u201d enough for the state coaches organization to let me teach pole vault safety<\/a> to coaches all across the state. And I\u2019m \u201cexpert\u201d enough for the lawyers that are looking for pole vault \u201cexpert\u201d testimony  \u2013 though they don\u2019t know anything about pole vault.  It\u2019s easy to be an expert compared to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Out on YouTube there are other pole vault coaches who claim to be \u201cexperts\u201d.  Some of them are, and a few are really the best in the world.  But some of the other so-called \u201cexperts\u201d are teaching techniques that will ultimately get someone killed.  Pole vaulting has it dangers.  After all, when you use a fiberglass pole to launch high into the air, you better do it right.  There\u2019s lots of ways to get hurt.  But if you search YouTube long enough, you can find \u201cexperts\u201d who ignore all of the acknowledged safety practices.  They promise great success with their \u201cnew techniques\u201d. But there is no \u201cdisclaimer\u201d that they are dangerous, no \u201cFact Check\u201d in pole vault warning you off.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All it takes to be an \u201cexpert\u201d on YouTube (or the rest of the Internet) is a post or a website (just like mine).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s like that in pole vault, and it\u2019s like that in all sorts of even more dangerous activities as well.\u00a0\u00a0There are sites out there, on the Internet right now, that claim they have \u201call the answers\u201d to the current pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0They \u201ccan prove\u201d with \u201cstatistical studies\u201d that ALL OF THE OTHER EXPERTS are wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Herd<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

They claim that COVID-19 is nothing more than the flu.  They want us to just \u201clet if go\u201d and live our lives normally.  Sure, people are going to die, but ultimately we will achieve \u201cherd immunity\u201d.  Most of the population will be immune, or strong enough to survive infection.  The rest \u2013 well \u2013 it\u2019s just culling the herd, isn\u2019t it?  And meanwhile, we can go back to earning our livings, making money, and live what was our \u201cnormal\u201d way of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those YouTube \u201cexperts\u201d have decided that all of the real experts, globally acknowledged experts like Tony Fauci who has spent decades fighting pandemics, are just wrong.  And because of our hyper-partisan, conspiracy-seeking political environment today, those YouTube experts are gaining a following.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who to Believe<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Forces long before the Trump Administration attacked the reputation of our national institutions, like the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes for Health.  It has been politically expedient to say those institutions are corrupted by big business, and tainted with scandal.  Even \u201cexperts\u201d with heroic names, like Robert Kennedy Jr., have spent years attacking their credibility.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I guess it shouldn\u2019t be a surprise that the YouTube \u201cexperts\u201d are now calling on Americans to ignore those institutions and the real experts when in comes to COVID-19.\u00a0\u00a0After all, the disease has killed over 50,000 in just a couple of months.\u00a0\u00a0It has come close to overwhelming our healthcare system.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s only through heroic efforts (even by the Trump Administration) that hospitals have managed the onslaught.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real experts have shut down America, for the purpose of saving lives.  But just like in pole vaulting, there\u2019s someone on YouTube who can tell you how to do it better.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better hope they don\u2019t get you killed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Career After a career in education, it\u2019s difficult to say what I\u2019m an \u201cexpert\u201d in.  I spent twenty-eight years in the classroom, teaching social studies courses from world history to economics to government.  I was a good teacher, but I don\u2019t know that I’d ever call myself an \u201cexpert\u201d.  There were teachers who were better at the … Continue reading “Experts”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nExperts : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do you get to be an "expert"? 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