Before you turn to someone else, stop and think for yourself.
Experts perform a valuable function in our modern world. Whenever we get into an argument, whether heated or as a diversion, it isn’t long before we reach for a forceful quote or two from an expert. Experts strengthen our confidence in views we’ve chosen to defend. Experts supposedly know what they’re talking about because they’ve got the inside track on specialized knowledge. Experts are called upon to give us the final word in matters both obscure and self-evident.
And sometimes experts are wrong.
IT HAPPENED HERE
Minnesota’s 1998 governor’s race is a prime example of the experts being wrong. Polls consistently showed Jesse Ventura to be running third and the pundits gave him zero chance of winning. Jesse was almost always discussed in terms of whether his candidacy would hurt the Republican Coleman more than the Democrat Humphrey.
A former Navy Seal and WWF “wrassler,” his candidacy was seldom taken seriously by the mainstream media. When I turned on the TV in my Las Vegas hotel room the day after the election and saw the polished bald pate and dimpled chin on national news, I knew the professionals had been wrong.
History shows us that misguided predictions are nothing new. In 1876 an internal memo at…
