Are Any of Us REALLY "Experts?"

I got a message last night from another author who told me "you have to read this," and copied me on a different message posted on someone's Facebook page (or similar)...a someone who shall remain nameless, but by all accounts has become marginally famous in the glamorous world of paranormal research by doing absolutely nothing but running off at the mouth. I won't even quote the message directly, but it was exactly the kind of magnanimous, self-congratulatory bullsh*t that makes me want to punch myself in the face.

Evidently this person wrote a book. Yeah, get in line, sister...I'm on book four.

Also evidently, this person touts herself as an "expert" in numerous areas of paranormal research. Really? Well, I suppose it's easy to be an expert in a field that science still hasn't been able to specifically pinpoint...that way you can make up the rules that suit you as you go along.

It just so happens that this is a fairly gigantic pet peeve of mine...people claiming to be "experts" when it comes to ghost hunting. Unless you have Dr. in front of your name, or an entire alphabet of credentials behind it, you are NOT an expert. I can make a grilled cheese sandwich, but that certainly doesn't make me a chef.

Truthfully, the only thing you can claim expertise on is your own experience. Anyone can absorb and regurgitate information that they have read or heard elsewhere, but that doesn't make the information YOURS. It's what you do WITH that information to try and move the conversation forward that matters. That's where you begin to build your own credibility. You can't just make stuff up, slap a cool name on it, and call it legitimate research. While it may entertain, it does not inform.

So, while I am wholeheartedly willing to drink the "drama-free paranormal" koolaid, I stand pat on the need to vet out the people that bring nothing BUT drama to the table.

Am I just pissing in the wind on this one, or can I get a witness to testify?

~Katie