#opinion, Dear Diary, Page 81: «Experts» (Good grief!)

Experts are not sages, they are functionaries. They sit on panels, write in journals no one reads, and speak in tongues of jargon to preserve their own mystique. They are gatekeepers of knowledge, not its liberators. And that is being quite generous because in truth I do not believe that «experts» (with the exception of those in the medical field) have any truth or any knowledge. They are full of hot air, inflated, ego-centric, narcissistic little balloon heads.

The expert thrives on authority, not truth. Their credentials are their armour, their institutions their fortress, their arrogance their weapon. When challenged, they don’t debate — they dismiss. “Unqualified,” they say, as if wisdom required a certificate. And that is not even saying that their points of view are tainted with the tunnel vision they possess.

But history is littered with the corpses of expert consensus. The experts once told us the earth was flat, (that could still be right), that bleeding the sick would heal them, that heavier-than-air flight was impossible, that cigarettes were harmless. Again and again, the experts were wrong — and again and again, they wrapped their failures in the cloak of respectability. Art «experts» rave about the greatness of the ones they like and dismiss the ones they don’t as not being relevant or important. I remember being taught that Joan Miró was important and that Yoko Ono was a genius…

Here are the masterpieces of Joan Miró:

And here is the genius of Yoko Ono:

Why do I despise «experts»? Because experts are not seekers of truth. An expert is a careerist. He bows to the funding body, the political regime, the corporate sponsor. He does not ask dangerous questions, because dangerous questions cut off grants, silence invitations, kill reputations. Better to preach what is safe, what flatters power, what maintains the illusion of control. That is why in the art world they taught me that one of the greatest references was Andy Warhol. And yes, I know he is an institution to many, but, really?

This is one of Warhol’s great movies:

If you were able to watch 8 hours of the Empire State Building and find redeeming art in that then you should continue to follow the experts, they love people like you…

But I tell you…and I know you know it is true…the true discoveries, the revolutions, the leaps forward, they do not come from «experts». These great advances to humanity, science, art, and the society as a whole, do not come from the experts. This comes from the outsiders, the heretics, the tinkerers, the obsessives who refuse to genuflect before the altar of authority. Progress has always been made by those too stubborn, too naïve, or too free to care about what the experts decreed.

So, dear diary, I will…figuratively…knock. with a perfect scissors kick, the crown of the big head of the nearest expert and feel good. The crown was false anyways. Let us remember that knowledge is a gift that God has spread all over the universe (and the multiverse), as is wisdom. And truth? Truth is a concept that can be moulded to one’s beliefs and belongs to no guild. Let us stop worshipping experts, and start demanding honesty, humility, and courage. And start doing.

The world does not need more experts.
The world needs more thinkers.

CHEERS