There is a terrible trend in today’s celebrity and social media driven world where the loudest person can claim to be an expert on something. Dr. Drew made his fame by giving relationship advice.  He then went on to make money by giving substance abuse advice.  He recently made terribly wrong predictions about Coronavirus.  People don’t want to stay in their lane when there is money to be made.

Although no longer a licensed doctor, Dr. Phil also likes to give medical advice about things he’s not trained in. Talking loud or confidently is not a substitute for real expertise.  Instead of saying, “I’m not an expert on this issue, this is who we should listen to,” these TV docs just spout off opinions.

It’s bad enough when they do it with something related to medicine.  It’s even worse when they act like an expert in other things.

A good friend of mine sent me a video of Dr. Phil saying that if juries can’t hear cases, Judges could dismiss thousands of cases.

Technically anything “could” happen.  But there is no realistic way that thousands or even hundreds of cases are going to get tossed out because juries are not available.  Your right to speedy trial isn’t violated when the courts can’t open due to a pandemic. Might some people get temporary release from jail why they await trial?  Yes, and that should happen in many instances.  But they eventually will have their day in court if they want one.

Similarly, civil cases, which make up the great majority of jury trials, aren’t going to be thrown out because of a long delay.  That would unfairly harm plaintiffs and the reality is that it’s not uncommon for some civil cases to take years. I had a trial on a case I’m involved with that was supposed to start last week.  At the earliest it will go to trial in the fall and if not then next year some time.  That sucks for us and the client, but it’s just the way it is.

I love Oprah and even got to appear on stage at one of her shows once.  But her propping up carnival barkers like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and others is really a stain on her legacy.

Bottom line is that when you want to form an opinion on something you don’t know about, listen to an expert in that field.  And if someone thinks they have the answer for just about everything, they should be ignored and/or ridiculed.