quote:
It's a very American thing to believe that you know better than someone with expertise, because we are taught that our opinions matter, and it is irrelevant that we don't know anything about a subject.
I have a story to relate that is a perfect illustration of this.
I was working behind the cheese counter years ago, and we had a little sample setup out in front that had a sample of two cheeses that had the same name, but one was the traditional, real version of the cheese that we sold, and the other was a non-traditional, watered-down (and kind of nasty-tasting) version of the cheese that I found at a local grocery store. They tasted wildly different, and were even made from different types of milk, so it was a good illustration of how going by the name of some cheeses didn't mean you were getting the real thing.
I was waiting on a man who didn't read the signs by those samples and asked to buy some of the "other" cheese. I explained to him that the cheese wasn't actually a good example of this particular type of cheese and that we didn't sell it.
He replied, "But I eat a lot of cheese, and I think that's good."
He believes he is an expert on cheese because he eats it. AND, he's saying this to someone who is working behind one of the best cheese counters in the entire country.
Following that logic, I am an expert on cars because I drive them, or an expert on clothing because I wear them.
He thinks that his limited, completely non-in-depth experience of cheese as a consumer is equivalent to my 8 hours a day, extensive product training, and constant training to be a professional taster is irrelevant. In fact, I'm sure it never crossed his mind that he didn't know more than me, or any of us working there.
It is an additional tendency to equate or elevate one's own experience, preferences, or opinion to be equal or superior to anyone else's (even an expert's), that is also quite American.
We assume that everybody cares what we think, and that what we think actually matters, regardless of our expertise, or lack thereof.