The Rise of the Internet Expert

Not long ago, a person had to have extensively studied in a field, devoted an endless amount of time to research and write lots of articles and books full of their research findings and extensive study to be considered an “Expert” at something.

It took time, effort, an intense desire to really understand the nuances of said field of study, it wasn’t something that happened over night.



Also not long ago, when writing a research paper, one had to go to the library, find the card catalog to look up big heavy leather-bound books of reference on the subject of choice, or nearly go blind looking at microfiche of old articles.

Then came the internet.

And now..

In order to be an expert you basically just have to.. declare yourself one.
And if you want to write a research paper? You can cite wikipedia instead of Encyclopedia.


Now a days, being a blogger for longer than 6 months makes you an expert and if you can get a book published? Hell you become…
Whatever is higher than an Expert.


Now Im not hating and most of the time the bloggers aren’t speaking as experts.
And of course being that common sense aint all that common, a lot of people are deemed prophetic because they have and write things that should be common sense.



But I have also run across a whole lot of bloggers that truly think they are experts.

I have witnessed “experts” mis diagnose people, or tell people to stop taking their meds, or stop listening to their doctors.
I have seen fools actually follow this advice to their detriment.

I have seen people actually break up with their significant other based on advice they received from a relationship expert.
Or stay with a dayum fool because of this advice.


Now don’t get me wrong, these people following the advice are obviously gullible and would take bad advice from anyone. That’s not really my issue, nor are the bloggers, writers, internet celebrities that have been “given” expert status

My problem is more the self declaration of “expert” status and the ease with which society, the media, yo momma, etc bestows the title with little to no justification.
And then we mindlessly follow suit.
Im not mad at Steve Harvey or Hill Harper or Jared the subway guy.

(Even though Steve declared himself an “expert on men not on relationships”)

Im more upset that all it took for him to be considered an expert was to write the book.
Im more upset at the people that bought the books and made it their relationship bible.

Im more upset that more people will turn to a blog or Web MD than to their doctor.


Im mad that people really believe Lyfe Jennings “statistics” are true statistics.

Anyway Im about to get off topic


Stop turning to these fake *ss resources for info, require a little bit more from your experts and please don’t take yourself to seriously as a blogger. Just FYI Blogger ≠ Expert. So for all the self declared experts, get it together. If you were a real expert? You might have something else to show for it besides a blog and wikipedia page.
That’s all I’m saying.


So what say ye?