Our country is now an expert factory.

We churn them out left and right, and the machines that produce them on every topic — from international diplomacy to the inner workings of giant companies — run, now, seemingly nonstop.

The foreign policy expert machine chugged to life recently, after President Joe Biden announced a deal releasing basketball star Brittney Griner from a Russian labor camp in a trade for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Our newly minted experts, including Donald Trump Jr., criticized Biden for not securing the release of ex-Marine Paul Whelan instead of Griner. No matter that Whelan had been convicted of espionage, a much more serious crime. No matter that U.S. officials said Whelan's release was never a possibility, no matter that two very different presidents have been unable to get Whelan out and no matter that Whelan had already been passed over in a prisoner exchange with Russia earlier this year.

The foreign policy experts have spoken!

It has come to the attention of several thousand Facebook commenters (who have, it must be admitted, no experience negotiating the release of political prisoners) an error was made. The president's advisers, with their decades of public service, education and training? Well, let's just say they could learn from Bob, a CPA in Tacoma who watches a lot of CNN.

Somehow, our country's Bobs magically divined the content of the secret negotiations between the U.S. and Russia and therefore know exactly how they, personally, could have gotten a better outcome.

Brand-new media experts started rolling off the factory line this week, too, after the publication of "The Twitter Files."

If you haven't heard of "The Twitter Files" because you aren't on Twitter, or don't care about Elon Musk, or don't enjoy reading boring internal corporate emails, you are forgiven.

Basically, "The Twitter Files" is an attempt to prove that there was favoritism on Twitter to liberals.

The proof? Emails showing both Republicans and Democrats, including officials in both the Trump and Biden teams, reaching out to alert Twitter officials to tweets they thought were problematic.

That might seem benign, but that's not all!

Twitter also, apparently, pushed down content and made it harder to find users who posted problematic tweets. (We should, I suppose, ignore the fact that Twitter warns in its terms of service that those tactics might be used on offensive tweets or users.)

On top of that, a Twitter lawyer with ties to the Biden administration was reading the emails before they were sent to the "Twitter Files" journalists. A lawyer! Just think!

Now, I came out of the media expert factory some time ago, so you'll have to excuse me if I'm confused at what, exactly, was so alarming about all of this.

Lawyers read plenty of the stories I wrote in my years at newspapers. I would have trouble counting the times someone powerful reached out to try to get me to downplay or boost a story. Media companies decline every day to promote objectionable content.

But what do I know? The Bobs have spoken: "The Twitter Files" are a bombshell.

There is a certain democracy in this new landscape, one in which anyone can comment on anything. We're all experts, if we wish to be, and we all have a shot at having our voices heard.

Opinions are fine — healthy, even. For as long as there have been societies, there has been discourse. And every child thinks their parents don't know what they're talking about. But as you get older, we learn the value of experience and wisdom.

The trouble comes when the army of Bobs start believing they really do know better than the actual experts, and acting as if that were true. Bob is not a hostage negotiator, a doctor, a scientist, a CEO, a diplomat.

Question? Yes. Opine? Absolutely.

But we should all understand our limitations, acknowledge where a real expert might know better than a factory-fresh one.

Because, Bob? I'm sure you're an expert on something. Just probably not on that.

To learn more about Georgia Garvey, visit GeorgiaGarvey.com.

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