The implication is that this lack of technical expertise disqualifies the critic from speaking on the topic at all. Of course, no such parallel expertise is granted to fields like economics and finance, despite their own highly technical nature. This selective evaluation of individuals based on a self-nominated set of meaningful and not-meaningful criteria fits uncomfortably well with the tendencies toward producerism, anti-elitism, and anti-intellectualism that critics like Berlet (e.g., 2009, 26) see as endemic in contemporary right-wing movements.
