Comment by mike_hearn
13 hours ago
Scientists say that today too, it's a standard response if people outside of academia critique their work. "That person is not an expert" - totally normal response, it's taken to be a killer rebuttal by journalists and politicians.
Not exactly...in the past the Bible was literally not allowed to be translated from Latin into local languages. Ordinary people were 100% reliant on the elites to tell them what was in it.
Yes it's less harsh now, but it's a matter of degree and has improved in recent times. Even today many papers aren't open access.