Quote Originally Posted by InsaneApache View Post
Reported mate reported. Not the same thing at all.

Still that 'appeal to authority' is endemic on the left.
Britain has had enough of experts, says Gove

Post Brexit, experts need to reassert their value to society

HOWEVER you feel about the result of the UK’s EU referendum, the campaign itself cannot have left anything other than a foul taste in the mouth. The willingness to bend, ignore or invent facts was depressing and shameful.

Both sides were up to it, but Leave told the biggest whoppers. And to the victors, the spoils. It is from their ranks that the next government will probably emerge, so their abuse of facts needs to be held to account.

Let us start with Michael Gove. Pressed in a Sky News interview about expert warnings on the economy, he glibly replied: “I think the people in this country have had enough of experts.”

Given that Gove is likely to land a big job in the next government, this claim is troubling. He was not saying “expert opinion is worthless”. But he was giving voters permission to dismiss it and trust their own instincts, in cynical pursuit of his own goals. If he is prepared to use this tawdry tactic in the most important UK vote in living memory, there are serious questions about how he will conduct himself in high office.

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We can do better. Sadly, experts must take some of the blame for failing to get their message across. They relied too heavily on spelling out the evidence and scoring factual points – tactics that played straight into the hands of Leave.

For a debate as visceral as this, facts aren’t enough. Reams of research has shown that firmly held beliefs – especially those to do with cultural identity – are resilient to conflicting evidence. Trying to change someone’s mind by bombarding them with facts usually just makes them dig in. Emotion trumps reason.

Academics in general don’t get this. They expect facts and evidence to carry the day, and are left shaking their heads in disbelief when they don’t. The Remain campaign shared this assumption, and made little or no attempt to stir any emotion other than fear.

It was never going to work. Rightly or wrongly, many people felt that their national identity was under threat. That allowed Leave to push emotional buttons with slogans such as “take back control”. Irrational, yes. Vague, yes. But powerful.