Expert Reports: Are the experts guiding us correctly?

In literature, health, education, media, parenting, politics, communication, technology, government, and many other aspects of human endeavor; humans have always looked to the experts for guidelines and advice on the best way to handle practically every situation. But have the experts of this world really “expertly” guided us on anything? I mean can we really trust the advice of these experts?

When the coronavirus infection broke out in Wuhan, China, late last year; the whole world looked to the experts — especially the World Health Organization (WHO) — for guidance as to how to respond to the virus outbreak. The disease, which has pneumonia-like symptoms, is called the Covid-19, or the Wuhan coronavirus. The world got a lot of confusing and conflicting information from the Chinese experts and, later, from the WHO experts, as the disease spread to different countries of the world.

At first, the Chinese experts said the origin of the virus was a Wuhan wet market, where animals
that normally would not come into contact with each other – wolves, koalas, snakes, rats,
peacocks, foxes, salamanders, and others – are kept in unhygienic conditions, waiting to be slaughtered and sold to people. Authorities reported that conditions in the market enabled trans-species mutations of pathogens that eventually leaped to humans. Another study published on January, 24 by another set of experts, shows that the first three infections, documented in early December, had no link to this wet market. Nor did 11 other cases among the 41 analyzed in the study. So, there was a lot of confusion as to where and how this new strain of coronavirus originated. So, the true cause of the coronavirus may still be largely unknown.

Then the confusion left the how-it-came-about stage to the how-it-spreads stage. Experts in China, backed by the WHO once again, were giving out information about how the virus does not pass from human to human. They reassured the world and let world leaders continue to open their borders and allow continued international movements. Then, after many cases of the infection, including deaths, have been reported in countries around the world, it was discovered that the virus could indeed be passed from human to human. That was the very first shock people got on their reliance on what these experts were reporting on the nature of the virus. These were all highly educated, well-informed, powerful individuals making earnest reports about the way the global pandemic will play out – and confusing people more and more.

There was so much confusion from these infectious disease experts also on the use of nose masks and social distancing but the one that has also captivated attention is on the use of Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, and Zinc Sulphate for the treatment of the virus. The claim and counter-claim on the use of these drugs have been an interesting one — with the United States President Donald Trump being a strong advocate for the use of these drugs. While he is relying on reports by some experts and advocating for the use of these drugs, the WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said, at a press briefing in Geneva on May 25, that it is suspending their use pending safety data. And this decision was taken out of an “abundance of caution.”

While there have been reports by experts of these three drugs effectively treating the coronavirus infection, there have also been many other reports with similar procedures claiming how ineffective, and even lethal, these drugs are. So, one is left confused, that even in a pandemic, we cannot have clear guidance on what to do and what not to do. Perhaps this is one of the reasons many people have claimed that there is an agenda behind the whole thing — with some even claiming it is a big “project fear” sponsored many big pharmaceutical industries with the chief aim of coming up with a “vaccine” for an infection that never existed! All for the money?

The global pandemic could be likened to a world war in many ways.

It is known that World War II could have been prevented were it not for the confusing predictions of many political “experts” aided by the media. History reveals just how deeply wrong these experts and the press can be. Examples abound of the experts’ disgraceful credulity and how they kowtowed to Hitler.

In 1933, while many signs showed that events in Germany were swiftly moving in a dangerous direction: The ruling party was organizing massive public book burnings. Trade unions were banned and Jews were being mistreated and abused, and concentration camps were filling up, the experts and the media advised that there was no cause for alarm. London’s Daily Herald declared that Hitler is a trustworthy statesman. The Spectator called him “the hope of a tormented world.” When Hitler agitated to take over Czechoslovakia, the press and world experts argued that the Czechs should give in to Hitler. They said the main threat to peace was the stubbornness of the Czechs! In 1937, the Times editor wrote, “I should like to get going with the Germans. I simply cannot understand why they should apparently be so much annoyed with the Times at this moment. I spend my nights in taking out anything which I think will hurt their susceptibilities and in dropping little things which are intended to soothe them.” That was the reasoning of the editor of one of the world’s most respected newspapers at the time Hitler was getting emboldened prior to WWII!

What these political experts and the media did in dealing with Hitler before World War II was despicable. Events make this inescapably clear. Almost all the experts REFUSED to see him for what he really was – until it was almost too late.

It is true that we cannot live our lives in isolation, as the world has become a global village. It is always wise to seek adequate advice on issues, but this we must not do blindly. While it is human nature, that sheep-like behavior in humans, to want to follow a popular opinion; following “experts” blindly during a pandemic or war, or perhaps at any period in time, would always result in more crisis. This is the lesson of history and one the world needs to think long and hard about. We cannot always leave our survival and existence in the hands of the so-called experts. We must be wary of many of these experts, some of whom are nothing but tyrants of the intellect, whose main aim is to dominate and conquer our minds and not really to better the world.