Feeling some clarity and the long arc of justice this morning so I'm sharing while it's clear. First up was my earlier thread on how Trump wins - always by attrition, never on merits. We can't 'win' with him, but we can make him lose by playing the game differently.
Next up ...

The anti-expert, anti-science, anti-education narrative. I've been privileged in my life to study with and learn from some of the finest scholars of our time at some of the best universities in the world. I earned fancy degrees, and with full respect for physicians, I am a doctor

by virtue of my PhD. That title is not subject to the latest QAnon musings or pop culture polls. I am an expert in my field based on years of hard work. I earned it, and no politician or conspiracy theorist can take that away. But there is another side to my story.

Along with my ivory tower studies I spent just as much time living with and listening to regular salt of the earth people in all kinds of situations. I remember and value those people and the life lessons they taught me just as much if not more than Nobel laureates and academic

'celebrities.' What I learned is that everyone has value and everyone has something to teach us. I learned to be proud of my fancy degrees and my title but not let them define me. If I'm not a decent human being it doesn't matter if I'm a doctor. I learned that pretty much

everybody is an expert in something. We all have something to contribute and every piece is valuable. So while I won't stand for politicians and conspiracy theorists trashing my expertise, I won't stand for them trashing yours either. We all contribute and we all matter.

Another life lesson for me is that the righteous judgement of our fellow humans always finds us. As we learn and grow we can choose to live our lives and face that judgement with humility, and there are many examples to follow. If we don't humble ourselves, the world has a way

of doing it for us. We call that humiliation. Either way we must come to the realization that we are all human, and that what makes us the same is at least as powerful as what makes us unique. So the pride I have in my own narrow expertise is tempered by respect for others.

So what drives this anti-expertise narrative? The pursuit of power, and in particular, authoritarian or fascist power. For those in pursuit of such power, experts pose three threats. First, they possess actual knowledge that often runs counter to the authoritarian agenda. Second,

experts tend to think critically about the proposed agenda and will quickly point out its flaws. Third, in normal times, experts are influential. People listen to them BECAUSE they are experts. So would-be fascists attack on all three fronts, with alt-facts, disrupting the

flow of information and discussion, and personally attacking experts. In place of real experts, would-be fascists like Trump present themselves as experts on everything. One truth is that we are all experts on something but nobody is an expert on everything. It's all about power.