But with the rise of social media and citizen journalism, it can be difficult to determine which stories are fake news and which are simply the product of the evolving media.
The news media has long shaped the way that we see the world. Read the blog post The news media: are you an expert? Inspired by The Death of Expertise, in which Tom Nichols explores the dangers of the public rejection of expertise, we've created a series of quizzes to test your knowledge. Because climate change is often the subject of heated debate, it's easy to mistake political stands for scientific facts. Read the blog post Climate change: are you an expert? Ĭlimate change is one of the most significant and far-reaching problems of the twenty-first century and it is a frequent topic of discussion everywhere from scientific journals to the Senate floor. But what really is corruption, and who is responsible for its continuation? From public officials embezzling government monies, selling public offices, and trading bribes for favors to private companies generate public indignation and calls for reform'corruption, it seems, is inevitable. Headlines regularly focus on political scandals and corruption. The Death of Expertise The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters Tom Nichols From Our Blog Corruption: are you an expert?
The Death of Expertise is not only an exploration of a dangerous phenomenon but also a warning about the stability and survival of modern democracy in the Information Age. Nichols has deeper concerns than the current rejection of expertise and learning, noting that when ordinary citizens believe that no one knows more than anyone else, democratic institutions themselves are in danger of falling either to populism or to technocracy-or in the worst case, a combination of both. Paradoxically, the increasingly democratic dissemination of information, rather than producing an educated public, has instead created an army of ill-informed and angry citizens who denounce intellectual achievement. All voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism.Īs Tom Nichols shows in The Death of Expertise, this rejection of experts has occurred for many reasons, including the openness of the internet, the emergence of a customer satisfaction model in higher education, and the transformation of the news industry into a 24-hour entertainment machine. Today, everyone knows everything: with only a quick trip through WebMD or Wikipedia, average citizens believe themselves to be on an equal intellectual footing with doctors and diplomats.
These societal gains, however, have also helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues. People are now exposed to more information than ever before, provided both by technology and by increasing access to every level of education.