The internet has made a lot of people armchair experts happy to offer their perspective with a degree of certainty, without doing the work to identify gaps in their knowledge. Often the mark of genuine expertise is knowing the limitations of your knowledge.

This isn’t a social media thing exclusively of course, I’ve met it in the real world too.

When I worked as a repair technician, members of the public would ask me for my diagnosis of faults and then debate them with me.

I’ve dedicated the second half of my life to understanding people and how they work, in this field it’s even worse because everyone has opinions on that topic!

And yet my friend who has a physics PhD doesn’t endure people explaining why his theories about battery tech are incorrect because of an article they read or an anecdote from someone’s past.

So I’m curious, do some fields experience this more than others?

If you have a field of expertise do you find people love to debate you without taking into account the gulf of awareness, skills and knowledge?

  • bolexforsoup@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    3·
    4 months ago

    God where to begin lol

    Honestly? Can’t go wrong with most of the Oscar contenders from 2010 to 2015 or so. 80% of those films are very good. I would say browse those and grab the first one that looks interesting to you. Some notable ones are The Act of Killing (very intense/trigger warnings but an unbelievable film), Blackfish for its cultural reach at the time (also very sad/trigger warning for animal cruelty), and Five Broken Cameras (very relevant with what is happening in Gaza).

    Personal favorites? Man on Wire, Won’t you be my Neighbor?, a great short by Errol morris that is super relevant in our highly conspiratorial climate is The Umbrella Man. The Thin Blue Line (also morris) is kind of wild and genre-defining if a little dated - it’s a piece of documentary history though. Won’t spoil the ending but it’s a once in a lifetime film someone gets to make if ever. Also relevant with current police discussions. Harlan County USA is a great film about a Kentucky coal miners strikes focused on their wives. Another piece of cinema history for sure.

    I could go on and on, but the nice thing is there are so many amazing ones! If you’re looking for something a little more bite-size, I would check out anything made by Louis Theroux. His ability to get people to open up despite how challenging he is in his questions is remarkable. I don’t know how he does it. HBO has a great collection of his work.