Opinion: Most Overused Word in 2020

In social media and evening TV and radio news this year, about the most overused word this year is — “expert.” On 31 Dec 2019, “experts” in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) declared that a new respiratory illness, centered in the city of Wuhan, had been identified.

During the next few months, “experts” in the World Health Organization, together with those in the CCP, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and those opposing President Trump — all came out with their “expert” opinions on [a] degree of human-to-human transmissibility of the virus, [b] whether wearing masks, blocking travel between countries, isolating senior citizens, and isolating school children, would help prevent spread of the virus, and [c] whether business lockdowns are important, versus too damaging to the country’s economy.

Many “expert” physicians from multiple countries provided their opinions on [a] whether respirators and oxygen were beneficial to hospitalized patients, [b] how many feet apart was regarded as “safe social distancing,” [c] how long should people be quarantined after apparent exposure, and [d] whether remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, zinc, large doses of vitamin D and/or many other “therapies” were beneficial to unhospitalized patients versus hospitalized seriously ill patients.

And, on a minute-by-minute basis, social media added their two cents — from all sorts of movie stars to sports heroes — to the hype and hysteria of each of these issues. “Experts” who were on one side of the coin, this week, changed their minds and were on the other side of the coin, next week.

Who are these “experts?” Indeed, what is an “expert?” A qualified “expert” is someone who has knowledge on the topic; however, this is a new virus, never before seen on this planet. Therefore, how can we have any “experts?” As stated in the Bible (Luke Ch. 6, v. 39) — “When the blind lead the blind, they both shall fall in the ditch.”

Or, as Edwin Meese III (prominent conservative thinker and elder statesman, associated with the Heritage Foundation) defined, “An expert is somebody who lives at least 50 miles from home, has no responsibility for implementing the advice he gives, and shows slides.”

So — what is the bottom line? The problem with all this boloney of the past ten months is that, sadly, this is all nonsense. There are no “SARS-CoV-2 experts” and we continue to sail in uncharted waters.

—Brit Speares, your Local Correspondent