Matt Birchler on the Dunning-Kruger Effect and how people tend to be more vocal about things they know nothing about:
To help make the internet a better place for everyone, I'd like to suggest that if you are an expert in a subject matter (or even if you only know a bit more than the average person), that you share your expertise online. Do it on a blog, in a newsletter, in a video, or on social media, but do it somewhere public so that people who want to learn more can find it. Not every post needs to explain everything, but little bits of insight here and there go a long way to making the rest of us more informed.
I appreciate this point of view. The more someone complains about something, usually the less they know. And quite often, the exact opposite is true — the less someone says about something, the more they know about that topic. Funny predicament.
But my quick counter-point:
I won’t say I am the smartest or most knowledgeable Canadian taxation accountant in the world, but I did pretty well on my exam. I don’t talk about Canadian taxation in public all that often because I talk about it all day, every day with colleagues and clients. When I go home in the evening, the last thing I want to do is write a long blog post about taxation policy or financial advice.
I don’t actually have the confidence to discuss taxation openly for fear of leading someone astray when I don’t know the facts. But I think folks in my industry have some pretty great ideas to improve Canada’s taxation system that could eliminate complexity and stress on Canadian taxpayers.
I’m not sure where the healthy balance occurs.
For the most part, I work at work and side gig at home. I’m not all that interested in writing about work in the evenings.
I’m hoping others chime in on this matter. I don’t have a solution, but I know my preferences. And my preferences have been to keep my mouth reasonably shut when it comes to things I actually know about (tax) and to yap all day about things I don’t (apps, services, baseball, hockey, the occasional COVID statistic, and Star Wars). Maybe it’s a form of stress relief.
Can I get a “laugh out loud”.
