Joe Biden does not look in good shape. Donald Trump is pushing 80 as well. The experts say not to worry. What? A recent headline in the Washington Post read “Why experts aren’t all that concerned about Biden’s and Trump’s ages.” Reason number 172 why you should stop listening to the so-called experts. Or at least be skeptical of what they have to say.
I will admit I stopped reading the article right there. After three years of getting almost everything wrong, I’ve had my fill of “experts” thank you very much. Particularly when an outlet like the Washington Post is using them to support the claim that concern over Joe Biden’s, or Donald Trump’s for that matter, age is unfounded.
It is true that Trump seems to have enough vigor to run laps around an obviously deteriorating president, despite his age. Still, he’s no epitome of health.
To suggest that people should worry about neither of them occupying the most powerful position in government, and arguably the country, is typical of disingenuous journalism that tries to convince readers with data from people with many letters after their name that their fears are either misplaced or, as is the case of climate change, totally warranted, depending on what the narrative calls for.
“But the Data Says…”
When I found myself able to return to the article bracing for some sort of irrelevant, out of context data to support the Post’s claim, that’s exactly what I found. A hodgepodge of scientific studies that involved everything from bloodwork to genetics to BMI to socioeconomic status.
There was not one mention of the level of stress the job in the Oval Office entails, which, as any simple observation of before and after photos of presidents in their tenure will reveal, is not pretty. (Except maybe Ronald Reagan … not sure what that guy did, but he looked almost exactly the same!)
Sorry, no expert is going to convince me that if elected, Joe Biden is not going to have a major health failure during his second term. His health should have Americans downright scared.
Theory of the Elite
In both of his brilliant books “Vision of the Anointed: Self Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy” and “Intellectuals and Society,” Thomas Sowell highlights the absurdity of this new class of experts who run society.
These days the word “experts” has become synonymous with an elite class of bureaucrats who people listen to carte blanche without so much as a smidge of curiosity or skepticism about ulterior motives.
These are the same people that said “trust the science” during COVID lockdowns when what they meant is “trust me.” True science should always be questioned. Doubt is the inherent nature of the discipline, not trust.
Meanwhile, other legitimate experts have been dismissed in the name of mis or disinformation, which is a word I despise. There is no such thing as “misinformation.” It is information. One can decide its validity for themselves based on either research, or that thing that currently seems to evade so many of us – common sense.
This is not to deny the fact that untrue statements exist. Those are considered lies. Lies like “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
Or, one of my favorites, COVID-19 vaccines prevent infection and transmission and that vaccines become “dead ends” for the coronavirus.
These are not tidbits of “misinformation.” These are flat out lies.
Language matters, although less and less in today’s culture.
No Consequence for Being Wrong
What’s most amazing is the lack of consequences delivered when these so-called experts are wrong. Not only does government or society not hold them accountable (Dr. Anthony Fauci is a premier example of this) but the unwillingness of this class of people to reverse course or God forbid, apologize, is stunning.
Sowell’s “Intellectuals” demonstrates “how often intellectuals have been proved grossly and disastrously wrong in their prescriptions for the ills of society, and how little their views have changed in response to empirical evidence of the disasters entailed by those views.”
I’ll be gracious here and assume that maybe, when the vaccines first arrived, Fauci and his cohorts truly did believe they prevented transmission.
However, rather than anything close to a mea culpa, all America got from the CDC was a consistent retreat from their original narrative when reality didn’t align with their lies.
Let’s hope voters don’t give the Washington Post any reason to offer an apology about just how wrong they were.
Jennifer Galardi is the politics and culture editor and opinion writer for 19FortyFive.com. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and produces and hosts the podcast Connection with conversations that address health, culture, politics, and policy. In a previous life, she wrote for publications in the health, fitness, and nutrition space. In addition, her pieces have been published in the Epoch Times and Pepperdine Policy Review. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
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