Well, I think the neo-liberals have been playing the game of equating all “experts” into one group for many years. Since many of their policies are objectively harmful to the majority of people, they needed to discredit actual facts, knowledge and expertise. So it’s framed as just another part of politics, each side has their own experts, and as a non-expert you are just supposed to listen to one side or the other.
I’m not saying I know what should have been done differently, but it’s pretty obvious that actual professionals and actual experts failed to distinguish themselves from the hacks. I remember when Moody’s downgraded Ontario’s credit rating. It made headlines. The stories didn’t even say something like, “Moody’s is known for playing a significant role in the 2008 financial collapse through a fraud scheme by which they set ratings to suit paying clients rather than setting based on the viability of investments.” It was like running a headline about a great new investment scheme from Bernie Madoff without any mention of his last one.
I think the Brexit was a mistake, and it’s going to be one of those revolutions that replaces the old guard with a new-and-worse guard. But it is a bit of a revolution, and as much as it was driven by lies and racism, those things were able to gain traction because people found the present conditions intolerable, and were looking for some kind of change.
