The other day I received an email from a friend of mine that constituted something of a bitter, but very funny rant. As someone not averse to bitter rants, I read on with glee. My friend wanted to know, after reading an article in a women’s magazine that it would give me great pleasure to raze to the ground, exactly how simple it is for one to become an expert. The article that prompted this question was an interview with an Australian author who has penned a couple of those pretty books with stilettos on the cover that delve into the glossy lives of the wealthy western woman and what makes her tick (stilettos, handbags, cupcakes and New York usually). The interview subject wore the freshly minted label of ‘relationship expert.’ Previously, in the pithy author blurb on the back of her second book, she was a ‘culture expert’ and somewhere along the line I’m fairly certain she has been a ‘style expert’. That’s a lot of expertise.
You may recall a little while ago, I felt compelled to comment on the inaccurate overuse of the term ‘icon’. Today, I’m walking down a similar track. I daresay I have a deep-seated issue with people giving themselves inflated titles in general (artist is another one that springs to mind). I just can’t help but feel the tag expert is bandied about with no real regard to what it takes to acquire expert status. In a day and age when we can be anything we want to be, words that once carried weight and meaning (icon, hero, expert) are fast becoming run-of-the-mill must have labels that really don’t mean anything at all.
To my mind, an expert is someone who has spent many years and many hours of their time, over an extended period of time that allows for change and evolution, researching, observing and engaging with a particular field of knowledge. They are probably of a ripe age, or on their way to being so, as time is a key ingredient in the recipe of expertise.
I may be alone in thinking this (or at least alone in caring so much about it) but self publishing a book on texting etiquette does not make you an expert on social commentary. Appropriating the title of one of pop culture’s most famous relationship columnists does not make you an expert on relationships. Enjoying fashion and partaking in discussions over coffee with your friends does not make you a style expert, blog or no blog. A book on shoes? Not a culture expert. A book on shoes and their role in constructing femininity? Interesting, but hold the anthropological expert tag and perhaps give it to the supervisor of the research student who has been plugging away at their thesis for six years on that exact topic. A fragrance collection that numbers in the 80s, not a perfume expert. Reading Perez Hilton everyday? Not a pop culture expert. Perez Hilton? Not a pop culture expert.
We need to get some perspective and stop giving ourselves, and indeed allowing ourselves to be given, these inflated labels. A lecturer at a university who has dedicated the better part of their youth and sanity to Gothic literature, or South Pacific history or statistics (ha) has earned the tag. Of course, I am in no way purporting academia is the only route to expertise – a professional with a couple of decades of hands on work in their industry behind them, could wear it with pride. A hobbyist who has immersed themselves in the ins and outs of their chosen passion for twenty years and now owns five hundred 1850s spoons is something of an expert.
I put the question to Twitter (when in doubt, ask the masses) and there was a general rumble of consensus that expert has taken its place alongside meaty words that have lost their meat. One smart cookie suggested the term ‘actively interested party’ was a better fit for 90% of those we throw the word ‘expert’ at. I absolutely agree. We are all actively interested parties in something. But we are not all experts.
If you are unsure of whether or not the label is deserved, there is a surefire way to find out. Talk with a real expert. Take a moment to absorb the sheer breadth and depth of their knowledge in their chosen field (and it usually is just one chosen field, there is no slasher mentality aka style/beauty/pop culture/relationships). Perhaps, once you have stood in the face of true expertise, you will think twice next time you encounter a personality with the word ‘expert’ in their pithy About Me blurb.
So, just for fun, what expert will you be today? I’m going to be an expert ranter. Because I can.
Well said!
But I do think the world needs a book on texting etiquette. Honestly!