{"id":2067555,"date":"2023-10-14T16:05:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T20:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-thomas-sowell-wisdom-from-2010-explains-how-experts-bungled-the-covid-pandemic\/"},"modified":"2023-10-14T16:08:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T20:08:51","slug":"this-thomas-sowell-wisdom-from-2010-explains-how-experts-bungled-the-covid-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-thomas-sowell-wisdom-from-2010-explains-how-experts-bungled-the-covid-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Sowell&#8217;s 2010 insight reveals experts&#8217; mishandling of the COVID crisis."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthis-thomas-sowell-wisdom-from-2010-explains-how-experts-bungled-the-covid-pandemic%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2067555&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Few figures\u200b in conservativism are more revered than Thomas Sowell<\/h2>\n<p>A free-market economist, social theorist, and philosopher, Sowell\u2019s work \u200dhas spanned\u2062 decades and influenced generations.<\/p>\n<p>Sowell wrote a nationally syndicated column, authored dozens of books, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/history-the-left-erased-the-founding-fathers-helped-obliterate-slavery\/\" title=\"Leftist historians have erased the crucial role of the Founding Fathers in abolishing slavery.\">dazzled television audiences time<\/a> and time again with his\u200b commonsense, anti-intellectual\u200c approach to political and cultural issues.<\/p>\n<p>The following\u2063 story is part of The Western Journal\u2019s exclusive\u2064 series \u201cThe Sowell Digest.\u201d Each issue will\u200b break down \u200dand\u2064 summarize one of Sowell\u2019s many influential works.<\/p>\n<p>This country\u2019s response to the 2020\u200b pandemic was\u2063 a classic example \u2062of the\u200b blind leading \u200dthe\u200b blind.<\/p>\n<p>We were told ad nauseam, and are still told today, that we need to \u201ctrust the experts.\u201d But as \u200bit turns out, even \u200c\u201cexperts\u201d don\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n<p>At \u2063the urging\u200c of many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-to-show-lockdowns-are-killing-more-people-than-the-virus\/\" title=\"How To Show Lockdowns Are Killing More People Than The Virus\">public health experts<\/a>, \u2063this supposedly free nation \u2014 and many others like it \u200b\u2014 completely shut down its economy in order\u2064 to\u2062 \u201cslow the\u200d spread.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Studies now show the lockdowns did very little to slow the spread of COVID-19 while causing a slew of social \u2064and economic problems. The consequences of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-thomas-sowell-wisdom-from-2010-explains-how-experts-bungled-the-covid-pandemic\/\" title=\"Thomas Sowell's 2010 insight reveals experts' mishandling of the COVID crisis.\">letting public health\u200b experts craft policy<\/a> will be felt for decades to come.<\/p>\n<p>For those who have followed Thomas Sowell\u2019s work over the past several decades, none\u2063 of this should have been a big surprise.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Sowell\u2019s 2010 book \u201cIntellectuals and Society\u201d at times feels \u2064prophetic in the way it talks \u200dabout \u201cexperts\u201d and \u201cintellectuals.\u201d \u200cIt couldn\u2019t \u2063apply any better to \u200bthe country\u2019s \u200cCOVID-era troubles.<\/p>\n<p>If more Americans\u2064 had read this book prior to 2020, perhaps lockdowns could\u200d have been completely avoided.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Experts\u200c Don\u2019t Know What They Don\u2019t Know<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>On \u200bthe book\u2019s very first page, Sowell quotes Victorian-era philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who once said there is such a thing as \u201cunwise intellect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u200b is one thing to memorize a series of\u200b facts and figures. Many of those in our expert class \u200dhave done a bang-up job consuming such knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>However, a wise man knows where his expertise ends. Many \u201cexperts\u201d today lack\u200c this insight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSheer brainpower \u2014 intellect, the\u200d capacity to grasp and manipulate complex concepts and ideas \u2014 can\u200b be put at the service of \u200bconcepts and ideas that lead to mistaken conclusions and unwise actions,\u201d Sowell\u200c wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrilliance\u2062 \u2014 even genius\u200c \u2014 is no guarantee that consequential factors have not\u2063 been left out or misconceived.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Experts Often Make the Wrong Call \u2064with the Right Information<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Throughout \u201cIntellectuals and Society,\u201d Sowell lays out examples of how \u201cexpertise\u201d has led many smart men to \u2063make \u2062incorrect assumptions about the world.<\/p>\n<p>One of the best\u2064 examples is a prediction made by 20th-century forestry experts.<\/p>\n<p>These experts concluded that a \u201ctimber famine\u201d was looming. However, it never materialized.<\/p>\n<p>Why? \u200cBecause of the laws of free-market economics.<\/p>\n<p>As the supply \u200dof timber began to decline, \u200cits price\u2063 subsequently rose, as\u200b the price of any product naturally does when it \u2062becomes\u200c more\u2062 scarce.<\/p>\n<p>The forestry experts behind this prediction may have known many facts \u200cand figures relevant to their own field of expertise, but they lacked even the most basic \u2062economic knowledge. Otherwise, they \u2063would have known a \u201ctimber\u200c famine\u201d was never going\u200b to happen.<\/p>\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-container\" class=\"one-half\">\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-question\">Is Sowell\u2064 right about &#8220;experts&#8221;?<\/div>\n<div id=\"pollFormBox\" style=\"display: none\">\n\t\t<label>Yes<\/label><br \/>\n\t\t<label>No<\/label><br \/>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-disclaimer\">\n<p>\t\tCompleting this poll \u200bentitles \u2063you to The Western Journal news updates free of \u2064charge. You may \u2063opt out at anytime. \u200dYou also agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/about\/privacy-policy\/\">Privacy Policy<\/a> \u2062 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/about\/terms-service\/\">Terms of Use<\/a>.\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-results\" style=\"display: none\">\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-results-yes\" style=\"width: 0%\">\n<p>\t\t\tYes: 0% \u2063(0 Votes)\n\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-results-no\" style=\"width: 0%\">\n<p>\t\t\tNo: \u20640%\u2062 (0 Votes)\n\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In similar fashion, the experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization knew many facts and figures about COVID-19. However, they too lacked basic economic knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>So why, then, did we \u2062allow a handful of\u2062 public\u2064 health experts \u2062to help craft policies that shut down our economy?<\/p>\n<p>Without \u2064a good grasp of economics, they couldn\u2019t possibly have fathomed\u200d the endless consequences such actions would have.<\/p>\n<p>Even more than that, public health experts couldn\u2019t possibly have \u2064foreseen the social, mental, \u2062and spiritual costs that came with locking down the country.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Experts Have Their Place \u2014 \u201cOn Tap, Not on Top\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Sowell affirms in \u201cIntellectuals and Society\u201d that experts are indeed important.<\/p>\n<p>However, quoting an old expression,\u2064 he wrote\u2063 that they should be \u200d\u201con\u200d tap, not on top.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor broader social decision-making \u2026 \u2063experts are no substitute for systemic processes which engage innumerable factors on which no given individual can possibly be expert,\u201d Sowell wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In other words,\u2064 when it comes to large-scale\u2063 societal \u2062problems like COVID that impact a countless number of communities and institutions, no one \u200dperson could possibly be \u2062an \u201cexpert\u201d on how exactly to handle it.<\/p>\n<p>So the best approach for such a situation\u2064 is to have the experts \u2062give the people information, and then the freedom to choose how best to deal with\u2063 the issue.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/thomas-sowell-wisdom-2010-explains-experts-bungled-covid-pandemic\/\">This Thomas Sowell Wisdom from 2010 Explains How Experts Bungled the COVID\u2062 Pandemic<\/a> \u200dappeared\u2064 first\u2062 on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How does the &#8220;firefly-poll-option-percent&#8221; class calculate and display\u2064 the percentage of votes\u2062 for each \u200doption in the poll<\/h2>\n<p><span>  &#8220;pollChartContainer&#8221;\u2064 class=&#8221;firefly-poll-chart-container&#8221;><\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-results-label\">Results:<\/div>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-chart\">\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-option\">\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-option-label\">Yes<\/div>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-option-bar\" style=\"width:0%\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-option-percent\">0%<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-option\">\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-option-label\">No<\/div>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-option-bar\" style=\"width:0%\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-option-percent\">0%<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-total\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In another \u2063example, Sowell \u200ddiscusses how experts in\u200c the Soviet Union confidently predicted that \u200btheir planned economy would surpass the Western capitalist economies in terms \u2064of productivity and standard of \u200cliving.<\/p>\n<p>Again, the experts were wrong.<\/p>\n<p>While they may \u2063have had\u2063 access to vast \u200bamounts of information, their \u200cignorance of \u2062basic economic principles led \u200cthem to incorrect conclusions.<\/p>\n<p>As Sowell states, \u201cThe significance of conclusions ultimately depends, in part, on the relevance of the evidence on which those conclusions are\u2064 based. Even highly relevant\u200d evidence can \u2062be nullified by its\u2064 interpretation\u200b \u2014 or by neglecting relevant evidence of a different\u2064 kind.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>A\u2062 Warning \u200bto Society<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Sowell\u2019s book\u200b is a\u2064 warning to society about placing\u200b too much\u2063 trust in experts and intellectuals. As he writes, \u201cIntellectuals are not simply people who do well in academic settings but people whose occupations deal primarily\u200b with ideas\u2014writers, scholars, journalists, teachers and the like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He cautions against the \u2064potential dangers of \u2062allowing experts to wield too much power, \u200dstating that\u200c \u201ctheir visions \u2063of the\u2064 world, \u2064however brilliant, are inherently limited by the extent of their own experience\u2064 and \u2064the geographical and \u2063social range of the experiences of \u2064other intellectuals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While it is\u200d important to seek\u2064 guidance\u200b and advice from\u200b knowledgeable individuals, it\u2063 is equally important\u2062 to question and critically analyze the information provided. Blindly following the advice\u2063 of experts\u2064 without considering the potential consequences can lead \u200bto disastrous outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Sowell\u2019s insights are more relevant than ever in today\u2019s society, where experts and intellectuals are increasingly shaping public policy and \u200cdiscourse. It is crucial to remain vigilant and skeptical,\u2063 always seeking a well-rounded understanding of complex issues.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps if more people had taken Sowell\u2019s warnings to\u200c heart prior to the COVID-19 \u2062pandemic,\u200d the response may have\u200c been different, and the negative consequences of the lockdowns could have been avoided.<\/p>\n<p>As society moves forward,\u200b it must remember the importance of questioning \u2062authority and considering alternative perspectives.\u200d The wisdom of Thomas \u2063Sowell continues to serve as a guiding light\u200d in\u2062 the face of blind reliance on experts, reminding us to think\u200c critically and independently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Few conservatives are as respected as Thomas Sowell. As an economist, social theorist, and philosopher, his work has had a lasting impact. Sowell&#8217;s nationally syndicated column, numerous books, and captivating TV appearances have showcased his practical and non-intellectual perspective on political and cultural matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2093,"featured_media":2067556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2067555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2093"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2067555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2067556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2067555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2067555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2067555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}