Music of the Day, 5 December 2023

seeing the problem is half of the problem

Somehow, I got on a Laurie Anderson kick recently. I’ve been watching interviews of her and exploring her music, regretting that I hadn’t discovered her decades earlier. Her avant-garde music style isn’t my usual thing, but her incisive social commentary is. That’s how I discovered her in the early 2000s.

It’s long been a thing in this country: whenever something new arises in the news/politics, a bevy of alleged experts materializes to share their thoughts on the matter. I wrote “alleged” because sometimes these individuals authoritatively offer their opinions on topics that they have no direct expertise in. One of the best examples is seeking scientists’ opinions on spiritual issues: e.g., evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Why is it important to so many people whether they believe in a god or not?

I think this “expertise spread”—along with scientists becoming celebrities/influencers¹—has contributed to a decline in genuine experts being taken seriously by the lay populace. Back in 2010, Anderson’s album Homeland included a biting take on the topic.

This song was my introduction to her, as well as my kids’; they were old enough to grok the satire and pointed social commentary.² She has performed “Only an Expert” many times; based on a short exploration of several performances available on YouTube, Anderson changes up some of the lyrics to keep the song current. Alas, there seems to never be a shortage of topics to slot in.

1. UGH

2. I did need to explain who “Oprah” was and what her show was like