The Death Of Expertise

PBS Transcript JUDY WOODRUFF: 

Finally tonight, the latest installment in our series of essays. Tom Nichols, author of the book "The Death of Expertise," shares his Humble Opinion on the demise of experts. TOM NICHOLS, Author, "The Death of Expertise": A few years ago, a mischievous group of pollsters asked American voters whether they would support bombing the country of Agrabah. As you might expect, Republicans tended to support military action, while Democrats were more reluctant. 

 There's only one problem: Agrabah doesn't exist. It's from the animated Disney film "Aladdin." 

Only about half the people surveyed figured this out, and liberals and conservatives gleefully pointed fingers at each other. For experts in foreign affairs, however, there was no way around the alarming reality that so many Americans had a well-defined view on bombing a cartoon.

 I'm one of those experts. I teach both civilians and military officers about national security affairs. In my career, I have advised the Pentagon, the CIA, and political leaders from both major parties. Increasingly, however, laypeople don't care about expert views. Instead, many Americans have become insufferable know-it-alls, locked in constant conflict with each other, while knowing almost nothing about the subject they are debating. How did this happen?

How is it that people now not only doubt expert advice, but believe themselves to be as smart, or even smarter, than experienced professionals? Parents who refuse to vaccinate a child, for example, aren't really questioning their doctors. They're replacing their doctors. They have decided that attending the university of Google, as one anti-vaccine activist put it, is the same as going to medical school. People who have no idea how much the United States spends on foreign aid think that they're the peers of experienced diplomats.

Experts in almost every field can tell similar stories. There's a lot of blame to go around for all of this. The smartphones and tablets that we carry around all day that we think can answer anything are only part of the problem. The American educational system, from grade school to graduate school, encourages students to think of themselves and their views as special.

An A is now a common grade. The news media, while trying to tell people what they need to hear, must compete for ears, eyes, and clicks, and so are also forced to ask them what they'd like to hear. And even if we manage to avoid the intellectual saboteurs of the Internet, we're still all too likely to get our news and views from social media, where a silly meme from your aunt Rose in Schenectady competes for your attention with actual information.

We need to find our way back from this ego-driven wilderness. Historically, people return to valuing expert views in times of trouble or distress. We're all willing to argue with our doctors until our fever is out of control. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

But that's where we're headed. And unless we start accepting the limitations of our own knowledge, then each of us is failing in our obligation to participate in our democracy as involved, but informed citizens.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/problem-thinking-know-experts?fbclid=IwAR1QVqDO-NG7XDpVW_Bw06BZrqkPPOZmbTSwdQk7Ih4JSmPPmGDNQ8s3bxM

Trump wont lead the world others must

The gravest emergency to confront the U.S. in decades has fallen on the watch of a uniquely unfit president. At a time when the world should be looking to the White House for wisdom and leadership, it finds only Donald Trump’s characteristic blend of incompetence and dishonesty. His musings last week about killing the virus by ingesting disinfectant were a gift to comedians, but as always with Trump, the joke is on us.

Fortunately, many mayors and governors (though not all) have been rising to the challenge, taking action, heeding science, communicating reliable information, and collaborating with one another. In Washington, the Federal Reserve delivered prompt and comprehensive interventions to support the financial system. Even Congress, for all its dysfunction, has acted faster than its record of partisan paralysis would have suggested.

One of the virtues of our federal system of government is that it has sufficient strength and depth to keep working even if the person at the top isn’t up to the job. But internationally, the picture is deeply troubling. America’s abdication of leadership during a crisis that demands international cooperation is far more difficult to remedy.

The coronavirus pandemic is a global emergency, which makes it both necessary and possible to align governments as allies in a war against the disease. But that has not happened. Resources — materials, information, research — should have been marshaled to avoid waste and duplication; they were not. Export controls on essential equipment should have been discussed and agreed to, where necessary; instead, countries imposed them unilaterally. The World Health Organization and other agencies should have been recognized as vital global assets, staffed and funded accordingly; President Trump, in an attempt to shift blame away from the White House, announced that he would withhold funding to the WHO.

The president’s failure to play a leadership role in coordinating the global response has a terrible cost that can be seen in the numbers of both lost lives and lost jobs. Before the pandemic hit, a sky-high stock market masked deep economic problems — including weak capital investment, low growth rates and rising inequality — that were being made worse by Trump’s misguided and counterproductive trade wars and tax policies. Now, if Trump’s assault on the global trading system continues, the economic recovery will be slow in coming and tepid when it arrives.

All these issues should be at the front of the president’s mind. They aren’t — his obsession with his media treatment remains all-consuming — and in so many ways he’s simply made things worse. There’s only so much that other governments can do to fill the vacuum. Acting in concert with philanthropic and business allies around the world, they should do what they can.

For instance: The European Union, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and other regional efforts at cooperation and mutual assistance could help fill the void. France, Germany, Japan, the U.K. and others can work together in mobilizing the Group of 20. China can play a role in providing debt relief and supplies of equipment for developing nations. All these governments should realize that with the White House on the sidelines, they need to step up, and quickly.

Nongovernmental organizations and foundations also must do more. Alliances blending philanthropic, corporate, and state and city efforts to combat the virus have already been especially valuable. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is spending heavily on the development of vaccines and treatments, and on aid to Africa and South Asia. Bloomberg Philanthropies has launched initiatives to help cities manage the pandemic and to support vulnerable low- and middle-income countries, through its partnership with the Trump’s disdain for international cooperation should galvanize leaders here in the U.S. and around the world. Of course, presidential leadership can’t be fully replaced. But in a time of war, we must fight with the army we have.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net

Covid-19 How It All Will End

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If You Still Support Trump, Please Unfriend Me

If You Still Support Trump, 

Please Unfriend Me  

Facebook...I occasionally see posts from people saying “hey let’s not let political differences get in the way of our friendship”. I have never really cared too much about a person’s politics or political views. As long as they are informed, deeply held and honest convictions, I think everyone has a right to make up their own minds about the issues of the day. 

 And I would never think that having differing political views should affect a friendship. So even if you support issues which I find abhorrent such as banning abortion or opposing common sense gun reform, I support your right to hold and espouse those views and I hope we can still be friends.

In fact, I served 4 years of my life on a US Navy ship cruising around the Western Pacific (Westpac) to defend your right to express those views. However, what we have now in the United States is no longer about honestly competing views on thorny political issues. Under President Trump, the very fabric of our democracy is being torn apart. 

 Our institutions are being destroyed. The famous Superman triad of truth, justice and the American Way is being shredded. He attacks the free press constantly. He ignores the Constitution and the laws of the land. He has replaced honest professionals in the DOJ, the intelligence community, the military and almost every branch of government with incompetent yes-men, whose only talent in government is protecting Trump and sucking up to his fragile ego. 

 His supporters are having to constantly follow his lead and attack whichever bogeyman in the government has not demonstrated enough fawning loyalty and obsequiousness to Trump. 

 He lies constantly, says whatever he thinks is in his own political interests and never exudes any empathy toward others. It is always only about Trump.

 As a naval officer and later as the CEO of a mid-sized transportation company, I learned a lot about leadership. For me, leadership was always about finding the best people, empowering them to do their jobs, making sure they had the needed training and resources and removing all obstacles to their success.

A great leader always takes the blame when things go poorly but praises the team when things go well. It’s called taking responsibility. A great leader rises to the occasion when times are tough. 

 He or she can inspire others to accomplish more than they thought possible, not through blind loyalty to the leader but because of a shared belief in a lofty goal. Trump is not a great leader. 

 He is a weak, cowardly, egomaniac who makes every issue about himself and surrounds himself with sycophants who will give him all the credit and the glory.

He doesn’t understand that a leader subverts his/her own needs to benefit the organization that he/she leads. This pandemic is the greatest threat to our county in our lifetimes. 

 The abysmal performance of the Trump Government to help us to prepare for and navigate this crisis is a direct result of his terrible leadership. The WH Covid19 briefings where, after he strokes his own ego, each speaker has to praise Trump before they tell us how many are dying or why there is no PPE highlight his leadership failures on a daily basis.

As did many in his generation, my father fought in WWII. He served as a PT Boat skipper in the Solomon Islands fighting the Japanese navy. He saw what an evil regime could do and he instilled in all of us an appreciation for what the United States should stand for. 

 When I served in the US Navy, I was proud of the United States. It was after Vietnam and the USA was regaining its moral standing as the leader of the free world. Perhaps naively, I believed that the USA was a fundamentally good country (good countries can make mistakes).

 The USA had established the post-World War II order and I believed it would always lead a coalition of other Democracies in the struggles against totalitarianism that did and still continue to threaten our free way of life. We worked closely with allies like the UK, Canada, Australia, Western Europe Japan, Korea and Israel to ensure that the democratic way of life would not be put at risk. I believed in peace through strength and really admired Teddy’s old adage “speak softly and carry a big stick”.

 This 75-year alliance has been trampled underfoot by Trump. Perhaps, the leaders of those countries don’t worship him enough? All countries have their own interests, alliances have strains and there will always be ups and downs between friends. However, Trump uses everyone else as someone to blame for his own screw ups and our allies are tired of this.

 He causes needless trade wars, attacks international institutions, belittles other world leaders and only talks about America First. He is reviled around the world and America’s moral standing to lead the democratic alliance is in tatters. Instead, Trump idolizes and is jealous of dictators. They know how to play him with praise and help with his re-election. 

He has been totally suckered in, probably still hoping he will get a foreign policy win that leads to a Nobel Prize. I hate the fact that the USA is now a laughing stock and a pariah throughout the world and I am no longer proud of my country. in fact, I am ashamed of the United States under Trump.

 All of us who think that this is not who we are must stand up and say so. I often wonder what is it about trump that makes him so popular with his base. For such a waffler, he has been remarkably consistent on four issues, 1) strong borders, 2) no gun control 3) little or no federal regulation and 4) conservative judges that will overturn Roe v Wade. That’s really all he has done in his tenure but it is exactly what his hard-core base wants. 

 They see these deliverables and they seemingly will do anything to support him, no matter what collateral damage he does to the country and its international standing.

In fact, they are so fierce in their support that he can use them to intimidate other voices in his party who should be reining in some of his worst impulses. I never thought that a wannabe dictator like Trump could get away with shredding the norms and the institutions of the US government the way he has. 
We were all taught about the three branches of government, the balance of power and our Federal system which shares power with the states. For 230 years, this system has stood the test of time. Under Trump it has fallen apart in one term.

 The abdication of responsibility, duty, patriotism and honor in the Congressional Republicans and the Trump cabinet has been mind-numbing. Where are the Margaret Chase Smiths, the Barry Goldwaters and the Ronald Reagan’s? His base may be duped by Trump but Lindsay Graham, Bill Barr, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Chuck Grassley, Susan Collins and the like know he is a corrupt, incompetent liar who is tearing this country apart. 
And yet they do nothing. Sure, it is likely that if they honor their oath, do their job and provide impartial oversight of trump, he will sic his base on them and they will likely lose their jobs but isn’t this country worth sacrificing for? My disgust for the entire GOP party (which I often supported in the past) is now total.

 I do not think it can rise from the ashes of this presidency and we will need to rebuild or replace the failed two party system when this nightmare finally ends. So, if you still support Trump, after 3 years of lies, incompetent leadership, plummeting US prestige, corruption, and bullying, I do not respect you and I no longer wish to be your friend. 

 This is not about a difference of opinions on the issues, this is about lying, cheating, stealing and grifting to get your way.

It is about character and ethics and if you still support Trump, yours are lacking. Life is too short to spend time with people who are either too ignorant, too racist, too greedy, or too power hungry to see Trump for what he truly is. 

Feel free to block me, unfriend or do whatever you have to do. I choose to associate with people who care enough about the United States to stand up to him. If like me, you think that the United States is better than this Trumpian clusterfluck, please join me in voting against this scourge and all his supporters in November.

Once he is out, we will need to begin the long hard job of understanding what happened and figuring out how to make sure it never happens again.

Covid-19 Worldwide Killer Of Seniors