I know what I know and I share what I can. As my colleagues point out, there is no shortage of shake-and-bake “experts” or just plain clueless smart-***** in this domain. Megan’s article certainly rings true, but if anything this is a universal condition and has little to do with levels of education. Who didn’t think they had all the answers at 16 (or perhaps more accurately, everyone else was an idiot, especially parents)? Posner’s Public Intellectuals is a much heavier treatment of the same phenom. War/conflict just exacerbates the problem. Nothing sadder than watching a former General trying to explain how cluster bombs work … and screwing it up beyond belief; every former spook is suddenly qualified to comment on aspects of this business they really no nothing about; writers with no background or requisite education get to critique a wide range of actions by actual experts and face no challenge.
If the ‘sphere does anything I hope it gives rise to a much broader base of actual experts who get sufficient face-time before the public (not just in the tubes). If this is the info age we ought to be getting the best info we can and not just what info the prettiest face can spit out.
