Le Point Essay: Has Covid killed democracy in the name of knowledge?
Le Point, one of the major French news magazines, features The Weaponization of Expertise in an essay by Peggy Sastre:
Follow the science. This phrase, omnipresent throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, was intended to be reassuring…. But what initially served as a guide gradually turned into an injunction. Behind the legitimate call to reason, a shift occurred. It was no longer an invitation to understand, but a summons to remain silent. Don’t argue, the experts know. And anyone who questions ceases to be a citizen and becomes an obstacle. A heresy.
The Weaponization of Expertise… examines this turning point with icy rigor. … The expert, now an oracle, no longer merely advised—he began to decide.
(translated from the original French)
Read the full essay (in French).