Abcarian: A speech-impaired John Fetterman is better than a fast-talking Mehmet Oz
You cannot, you know that. He is not an expert in autism, but he is an expert in politics. He is not a “specialist” in social media, but he is a “specialist” in politics
What an apt metaphor for John Fetterman’s life. Not only did he make a career out of being an idiot; he also made a career out of being blind to his idiocy.
It’s not even a metaphor — though it is more accurate. A “specialist” has to know a lot about a field, which requires knowledge of how that field works, and being able to use that knowledge to explain what happens when you take a system through a series of steps to get to its final result.
As far as I know there has never been a political “specialist” who can’t explain what he’s talking about. The only possible exception would be Ted Nugent, who has managed to be an expert in politics while remaining completely ignorant of it.
That’s the point of this interview. John Fetterman is an expert at being an expert. It’s a skill set that has served him well, allowing him to become a professional politician and, indeed, to be a successful political consultant and campaign consultant.
And yet, when it comes to the real world stuff, Fetterman is an utter moron.
He is a genius when it comes to technology — the internet, video games, and especially Facebook — but he is a complete idiot when it comes to understanding social media in real life. He was, in fact, one of the most influential social media voices of his generation, and he now seems entirely unwilling to even acknowledge that the things he’s written about have been mostly wrong.
One reason John is so clueless is that he doesn’t understand how language works. He is the quintessential political insider: he graduated Yale and ran for
