Experts vs. "Experts"

It's funny/sad to read reviews of bike products on Amazon. It illustrates why we are able to believe the darndest things in an election year.

The country is full of "experts" writing reviews of their recently bought products, very confidently telling all about their virtues and flaws. They all have the air of truth, of someone who knows what he's talking about. (Are they mostly men in this category? I fear we men are the ones most likely to pose as experts.)

Problem is, they typically have no idea what they're talking about. None. For example, the first review of a bicycle tire stated that the specification 26x2.125" refers, respectively, to the tire diameter and the height of the treads above the rim, which is, obviously, wrong. Not wrongish, not a difference of opinion, not an alternate way of looking at it. The second number refers to tire WIDTH, only. The tire height will obviously change, but that's not what the number refers to.

When someone left the comment to this effect, the original reviewer belligerently said, basically, "Well, that's YOUR opinion."

And that, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with us. Facts don't exist. If it feels right, it IS right. I say the sun rises in the west.

(A reviewer of another tire said that the tire didn't work right for the first few rides, but then it got broken in and worked great. Sigh.)