[quote=scaredyclassic]
A young teen man enters a prison and is terrified of being raped. He is not an expert in sexism or the culture that produces it. He is one scared person who may have an interesting tale to tell, but it is just one tale, one set of feelings.
Feelings aren’t knowledge and personal narrative is not wisdom. It will by its nature likely miss important connections and contexts.
[/quote]
Again, you’re assuming that the kid who went to prison doesn’t read about, talk about, or study what he’s experienced. It’s unlikely that something so profound would go relatively unnoticed or ignored by a person who experiences it. Chances are, they are studying it, too. Maybe not by reading books…maybe just by talking to other people who’ve experienced it. Maybe by listening to those who are the perpetrators or who commit similar crimes.
There’s a tendency to assume that “official experts” know more than people who might study something in a different way.
I’ll use the recent example of Robert Reich, who traveled across the country, focusing on conservative states, to get a better understanding of why conservatives consistently vote against their own interests. He had an epiphany…conservative voters actually agree with progressive voters on most issues, especially as it relates to jobs and the economy, and the corruption of our government by corporations and the financial elite. Now, this is a man who studies these things, he’s been involved with politics for decades, and has studied economics, law, and social sciences for most of his life, but he didn’t know this! Meanwhile, some of us “non-experts” have been saying this for years. We’ve known that there are more points of agreement than disagreement. We’ve known that most conservatives aren’t just a bunch of stupid, hateful, ignorant, xenophobic racists (what he and other liberals have claimed in the past)…they have genuine concerns and intelligent reasons for believing what they do.
But it’s the people “on the ground” who knew this before the “experts” caught on. As a matter of fact, it was the Joe Sixpacks who spotted the housing bubble, and the internet/stock bubble, long before the “experts” did. Needless to say, I don’t hold most “experts” in very high regard, especially regarding issues that are more subjective.
