Can We Overcome the “Death of Expertise”?

Free speech is pointless if we can’t tell what’s true

Last fall, NFL quarterback Aaron Rogers caused quite a stir over his COVID vaccination status. When asked about it the previous August, he’d responded, “Yeah, I’ve been immunized,” implying that he’d been vaccinated. But now it came out that he’d contracted COVID-19, and he clarified that he hadn’t been vaccinated but had instead “immunized” himself through hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, two unproven COVID treatments.

I shared others’ indignation over this news. In refusing vaccination, Rodgers had acted irresponsibly toward his team and others around him, not to mention the legions of fans who saw him as a role model. I was particularly put off by his dishonesty — he had lied by omission.

But what interested me most was the way Rogers justified his actions. He said repeatedly that he’d consulted podcaster Joe Rogan in deciding whether to get vaccinated, which was irritating — Rogan is no more a COVID expert than Rodgers. And he tied the situation into concepts like freedom of speech and civility, which I’d been writing and thinking about.

Rogers seemed to think that refusing to get vaccinated demonstrated his own freedom of thought. He seemed to view the vaccinated as sheep, blindly following…