Actors Aren’t Experts — By John Reed

Actors Aren’t Experts
Why do we give the opinions from actors more credence than experts in their fields? An actor’s job is to convince us his made-up role is believable; successful ones make for good movies….but not necessarily useful politics. It’s odd to me that many people and apparently a lot of media types follow the opinions of those who get paid to make things up.
I don’t tell professional singers how to sing. I wish they’d return the favor.
I think it boils down to a general laziness on the part of the public. It’s easier for someone to make decisions for you than dealing with thinking for yourself. So much outrage and drama we see on the news or social media comes from chain reactions. One uninformed or unqualified person voices an opinion that gets treated as fact by other lazy thinkers, and pretty soon we have a tsunami of public opinion based on a non-fact.
Many of us have a friend who has developed a rich fantasy world in order to cope with a tragic domestic situation. Unfortunately, that make-believe mindset has spread into his public and professional life, with predictable results. His view of cause and effect is skewed by the rose-colored filters he’s put in place.
It’s time to remove the blinders from our minds. Recognize when the information you’re getting is from a biased or unqualified source. Does anyone really think their voting decision was decided by Russians? And yet how many of us will follow some internet meme down a rabbit hole, actually believing it’s true?
Sunday night’s Oscar awards offered plenty of acting and singing talent. Not so much for how to dress well. And even less for informed political expertise. Wouldn’t it be fun to have millions of people watch a show with actual experts without a political agenda tell us what’s really happening?
Oh wait: no sponsors would buy commercials for that.