Even before it became home to the Know Nothing Party, the United States had a long history of distrusting and discrediting experts.
The tradition continues today. People will take cattle worming meds that are recommended by talk-show hosts who couldn’t pass a chemistry course to save their lives. But they won’t listen to people who’ve gone to medical school and who conduct research on viruses.
Discrediting and punishing people who know more than we do is an ancient tradition. Montaigne told a story about Publius Crassus, a Roman consul who called on a Greek engineer. Publius told the engineer to send him the larger of two masts in the harbor for use in a siege machine. The engineer sent the smaller mast, knowing it would work better.
It did work better.
But Publius had the engineer flogged, thinking the interests of discipline outweighed the interests of building a working machine.
It makes you wonder why we humans ever bother to ask an expert.
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