Credentials: the Simulacrum of Wisdom and Authority

There is a crisis of legitimacy today in our elites. Their authority is evaporating and they don't really understand why. They increasingly rely on credentials as a substitute.

We are obsessed with credentials. The very highest ranks of our society are almost all educated at a handful of so-called elite universities, the Ivies, or their near equivalents.  This mania is not limited to just the high achievers among us.  Every field of work now has certifications one must earn and display to show competence. 

This is a problem for our society.  A crisis, actually.  Why do people look to credentials?  They want some way to ground knowledge and truth that is not depended upon the person.  This is an old, old problem.  What is Truth?  How should I act?  What should I do in this situation? 

This mania for credentialing exposes a reality that most of us would rather not examine too closely, especially conservatives and Christians.  The bottom line: there is no sure basis for knowledge and truth that is not dependent upon the vagaries of us as knowers.  The idea of the credential is that it “grounds” the opinion of the expert in something outside of the expert.  It is …