{"id":5518,"date":"2014-01-07T19:33:39","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T00:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/mojo\/?p=5518"},"modified":"2025-08-24T11:26:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T16:26:48","slug":"i-am-an-expert-witness-because-i-say-i-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/blog\/i-am-an-expert-witness-because-i-say-i-am\/","title":{"rendered":"I am an expert witness because I say I am*"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-16371\" src=\"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150621_donhenley.jpg\" alt=\"Album cover of Don Henley\u2019s ACTUAL MILES, on which is the previously unreleased \u201cIn the Garden of Allah\u201d\" width=\"350\" height=\"343\"><a title=\"Mike Cane, otherwise known as Twittercrank\" href=\"http:\/\/mikecanex.wordpress.com\/2014\/01\/07\/the-oldest-human-impulse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Someone<\/a> sent me to <a title=\"a sloppy, narrowminded article\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/articles\/2014\/01\/05\/the-smartest-book-about-our-digital-age-was-published-in-1929.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">an interesting article on a book I haven\u2019t read<\/a>, <em>The Revolt of the Masses<\/em> by Jos\u00e9 Ortega y Gasset. I hesitated to write this because I haven\u2019t read the book, but I\u2019m actually commenting on the post itself.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>\u201cThe Smartest Book About Our Digital Age Was Published in 1929. How Jos\u00e9 Ortega y Gasset\u2019s <em>The Revolt of the Masses<\/em> helps us understand everything from YouTube to <em>Duck Dynasty<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Are you, like me, puzzled to learn that <em>Popular Science<\/em> magazine recently shut down comments on its website, declaring that they were <em>bad for science<\/em>? Are you amazed, like me, that <em>Duck Dynasty<\/em> is the most-watched nonfiction cable show in TV history? Are you dismayed, like me, that crappy Hollywood films about comic book heroes and defunct TV shows have taken over every movie theater? Are you depressed, like me, that symphony orchestras are declaring bankruptcy, but Justin Bieber earned $58 million last year?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Why yes, I <em>am<\/em> wondering what\u2019s up with <em>Duck Dynasty<\/em>. I AM pissy about the constant retreads coming out of Hollywood. I AM annoyed that Justin Bieber can finance a country\u2019s worth of symphony orchestras. (I\u2019m not really sure about the <em>Popular Science<\/em> thing, though.)<\/p>\n<p>All is well. I\u2019m intrigued. I\u2019m invested in this piece. I\u2019m even slightly nodding at this:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>Put simply, the masses hate experts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s so true! They so do!<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s a little tickle in the back of my mind at the use of the word \u201cexperts.\u201d Then come a few more phrases that make me squirm a little.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>If forced to choose between the advice of the learned and the vague impressions of other people just like themselves, the masses invariably turn to the latter. [ \u2026 ] The upper elite still try to pronounce judgments and lead, but fewer and fewer of those down below pay attention.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Huh.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post\">\n<li class=\"post\">Experts.<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">Learned people.<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">Upper elite.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>Ortega couldn\u2019t have foreseen digital age culture, but he is describing it with precision. [ \u2026 ] He would understand why Yelp reviews have more influence than the considered judgments of restaurant reviewers. He would know why Amazon customer comments have more clout than critics in The New Yorker. [ \u2026 ] a friend who is affluent, educated, and a noted wine connoisseur. [who] now relies more on wine advice from websites where anyone can post their evaluations of different vintages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And this is where the article loses me, but not because I\u2019m in high dudgeon over the key words.<\/p>\n<p>There are several practical\/pragmatic variables here that the author of the piece hasn\u2019t accounted for:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"post\">\n<li class=\"number\">product accessibility<\/li>\n<li class=\"number\">expert accessibility<\/li>\n<li class=\"number\">artificial restrictions to #1 &amp; #2<\/li>\n<li class=\"number\">fallibility of experts<\/li>\n<li class=\"number\">accessibility of product and information<\/li>\n<li class=\"number\">unfulfillment of desires<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>1. The masses aren\u2019t likely to have access to the restaurants a critic would. They may not have access to the symphony. They may not have access to wine.<\/p>\n<p>2.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indent\">a. The masses aren\u2019t going to be reading reviews of restaurants they can\u2019t afford to go to. Further, before Google, one had to know <em>where<\/em> to look for this information, and one isn\u2019t likely to look for that information for places they can\u2019t afford.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indent\">b. There are only so many experts for so many things that we as a culture experience or want to experience. Not every book can be reviewed, much less in the New York Times, the holy grail of book review sections. There are not enough restaurant critics or column inches to review every eatery in any given town.<\/p>\n<p>3. The point of an expert review isn\u2019t to educate or recommend or dissuade or make such things desirable\/accessible to the masses. It\u2019s to put up a wall between the \u201cexperts,\u201d \u201clearned people,\u201d \u201celite\u201d and the masses. It\u2019s a bright line: This is <em>our<\/em> turf. Do not cross. Who chooses which books and restaurants and wines get the column inches? The experts, the learneds, and the elites, who have absolutely no interest in talking to the masses at all. Those column inches are jealously guarded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmateur\u201d reviews on Yelp and Amazon are plentiful and varied. Every <em>thing<\/em> that the masses are interested in have an opinion behind them that they can use to evaluate their own choices. There are no column inch limits. There are no carefully curated lists, leaving off what the masses are actually interested in.<\/p>\n<p>4. Experts. Now there\u2019s an interesting concept. Expert. One who is more learned in X thing than all the other learneds in X thing. A synonym is \u201cconsultant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Except the masses have seen the experts. They <em>have<\/em> listened to the experts. They <em>keep<\/em> listening to the experts, because the experts are more learned than they are\u2014<em>and they know it<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>And then \u2026 what they see is that the experts are <em>wrong<\/em> quite a bit of the time. They are confused. \u201cThis expert is saying X, and I <em>want<\/em> to believe him, but my lying eyes are telling me something else. Which one do I believe? DAMN MY LYING EYES!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So they go on about their business because, in the grand scheme of things, people aren\u2019t going to change if something\u2019s working for them, even if an expert tells them they\u2019re wrong, even if they <em>want to believe<\/em> that the expert is right. They\u2019d rather just live with their vague feeling of being wrong because they can\u2019t reconcile the viewpoint of the expert with their own experience.<\/p>\n<p>5. The masses will go for what\u2019s accessible, be it product or information, and they will turn away from carefully curated lists to find what they <em>actually want<\/em>. If they don\u2019t find what they <em>actually want<\/em>, they\u2019ll go for a substitute. Miley Cyrus is not Britney Spears is not Madonna is not Cher. But Madonna\u2019s a decent substitute for Cher, and Britney\u2019s a decent substitute for Madonna, and Miley Cyrus is\u2014<\/p>\n<p>My apologies to Britney, Madonna, and Cher.<\/p>\n<p>Not only are these things accessible, they are in their faces. I do not see experts in their faces, giving them a reason to find a more erudite alternative.<\/p>\n<p>6. The masses can\u2019t make what they really want to have, what their ears and eyes want, so they have always had to take what they can get, whether they like it or not.<\/p>\n<p>This is why genre self-publishing has taken over NY genre publishing. People found authors who will give them what they already know they want, but were not being provided. Authors don\u2019t make tastes and trends. People who are looking for stories that resonate make those tastes and trends. Publishing takes pride in its gatekeeping, but it has a lousy record on what people actually want.<\/p>\n<p>The article goes on with this:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>The same people who denounce expert opinion about movies or music will praise a skilled plumber or car mechanic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>An expert opinion about movies or music is just that: an opinion. It has no basis in skill or objective measure. Further, movies and music are not staples of life; they are spices.<\/p>\n<p>A skilled plumber will come out in freezing weather to replace a hot water heater. A skilled car mechanic will keep a piece-of-shit car running so someone who can\u2019t afford a new car can get to work to feed their families.<\/p>\n<p>How is this apples-and-Volkswagen comparison being made without irony and with a straight face?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>The value of <em>blue-collar<\/em> expertise is accepted without question. The same people who get angry when I make judgments about the skill level of a pianist, would never question my decision to pay more to hire a superior piano tuner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Shocking.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>This is a peculiar state of affairs \u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>No it\u2019s not. It\u2019s a fundamental misunderstanding of what it is to be part of the masses.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>At one point in <em>The Revolt of the Masses<\/em>, he complains about a woman who told him \u201cI can\u2019t stand a dance to which less than 800 people have been invited.\u201d So how would the Spanish philosopher respond to the crowd mentality that seeks out viral videos with a hundred million views?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is not difficult to comprehend. There are more people to choose from. This is not analogous to how many people vote for a YouTube video. This is analogous to having a billion YouTube videos to choose from.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, some more vocabulary:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>\u2026 the possibility for barbarism to flourish in tandem with technology; or the unbalanced specialization which favors science over the humanities; or (in his words) \u201cthe loss of prestige of legislative assemblies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul class=\"post\">\n<li class=\"post\">Barbarism.<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">Unbalanced.<\/li>\n<li class=\"post\">Not prestigious.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>The masses are asses.<\/em> My dad used to say that when observing what made popular culture. The case can be made, yes. Mobs have regularly shown themselves to be asses.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not above making judgments on the taste of the masses, although I\u2019ve learned that it\u2019s wise not to do it publicly.<\/p>\n<p>But to say that the masses are asses because they don\u2019t listen to the experts is missing the point: they know who the experts say they are, but they don\u2019t trust their advice and they know that the self-proclaimed experts aren\u2019t there to sweep them into culture and a better appreciation of the humanities.<\/p>\n<p>The experts are there to keep them out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"center\"><strong>\u201cIn the Garden of Allah\u201d by Don Henley<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DlWqxTpsrnk?si=PU_-k1r4TWiVcE0H\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"normal\"><p>It was a pretty big year for fashion<br \/>\nA lousy year for rock and roll<br \/>\nThe people gave their blessing to crimes of passion<br \/>\nIt was a dark, dark night for the collective soul<br \/>\nI was somewhere out on Riverside<br \/>\nBy the El Royale Hotel<br \/>\nWhen a stranger appeared in a cloud of smoke<br \/>\nI thought I knew him all too well<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cNow that I have your attention<br \/>\nI got somethin\u2019 I wanna say<br \/>\nYou may not wanna hear it<br \/>\nI\u2019m gonna tell it to ya anyway<br \/>\nYou know, I\u2019ve always liked you, boy<br \/>\n\u2019Cause you were not afraid of me<br \/>\nBut things are gonna get mighty rough<br \/>\nHere in Gomorrah-By-The-Sea\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cIt\u2019s just like home<br \/>\nIt\u2019s so damned hot, I can\u2019t stand it<br \/>\nMy fine seersucker suit is all soakin\u2019 wet\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And the hills are burning<br \/>\nThe wind is raging<br \/>\nAnd the clock strikes midnight<br \/>\nIn the Garden of Allah<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNice car \u2026 \u2026 \u2026<br \/>\nI love those Bavarians \u2026 \u2026 so meticulous<br \/>\nY\u2019know, I remember a time when things were a lot more fun around here<br \/>\nWhen good was good, and evil was evil<br \/>\nBefore things got so \u2026 \u2026 fuzzy<br \/>\nYeah, I was once a golden boy like you<br \/>\nI was summoned to the halls of power in the heavenly court<br \/>\nAnd I dined with the deities who looked upon me with favor<br \/>\nFor my talents; my creativity<br \/>\nWe sat beneath the palms in the warm afternoon<br \/>\nAnd drank the wine with Fitzgerald and Huxley<br \/>\nThey pawned a biting phrase<br \/>\nFrom tongues hot with blood<br \/>\nAnd drained their pens of bitter ink<br \/>\nVainly reaching for the bottle of empty Edens<br \/>\nBranded specially for the ones<br \/>\nWho had come with great expectations<br \/>\nTo the perfumed halls of Allah<br \/>\nFor their time in the sun\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We were stokin\u2019 the fires<br \/>\nAnd oilin\u2019 up the machinery<br \/>\nUntil the gods found out we had ideas of our own<\/p>\n<p>And the war was coming<br \/>\nAnd the earth was shaking<br \/>\nAnd there was no more room<br \/>\nIn the Garden of Allah<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday I made and appearance downtown<br \/>\nI am an expert witness, because I say I am<br \/>\nAnd I said, \u2018Gentleman \u2026 and I use that word loosely \u2026 I will testify for you<br \/>\nI\u2019m a gun for hire, I\u2019m a saint, I\u2019m a liar<br \/>\nBecause there are no facts, there is no truth, just data to be manipulated<br \/>\nI can get you any result you like \u2026 what\u2019s it worth to ya?<br \/>\nBecause there is no wrong, there is no right<br \/>\nAnd I sleep very well at night<br \/>\nNo shame, no solution<br \/>\nNo remorse, no retribution<br \/>\nJust people selling t-shirts<br \/>\nJust opportunity to participate in this pathetic little circus<br \/>\nAnd winning, winning, winning\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was a pretty big year for predators<br \/>\nThe marketplace was on a roll<br \/>\nAnd the land of opportunity<br \/>\nSpawned a whole new breed of men without souls<br \/>\nThis year, notoriety got all confused with fame<br \/>\nAnd the devil is downhearted<br \/>\nBecause there\u2019s nothing left for him to claim<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cIt\u2019s just like home<br \/>\nIt\u2019s so low-down, I can\u2019t stand it<br \/>\nI guess my work around here has all been done\u201d<br \/>\nAnd the fruit is rotten<br \/>\nThe serpent\u2019s eyes shine<br \/>\nAs he wraps around the vine<br \/>\nIn the Garden of Allah<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Someone sent me to an interesting article on a book I haven\u2019t read, The Revolt of the Masses by Jos\u00e9 Ortega y Gasset. I hesitated to write this because I haven\u2019t read the book, but I\u2019m actually commenting on the post itself. \u201cThe Smartest Book About Our Digital Age Was Published in 1929. How Jos\u00e9 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[317],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5518"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18504,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5518\/revisions\/18504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}