Corny metaphor incoming: It would be like a director who has studied about 1920's history for years, having never experienced it, and a director having breathed and lived it. Who would you prefer to direct a movie, all other things being equal, about the 20's?
I've seen this type of ad hominem a lot and I'm not sure why so many people fall for it. I would take the historian every time. Aside from the well-studied facts showing that memory and eye-witness testimony are hugely inaccurate, in a movie about the 20s we would expect to see the 20s. We would want the period represented accurately as a whole, not one person's perspective. In a movie about Ray Charles, we would certainly like Ray Charles' input, but that is only because the movie is about Ray Charles' perspective.
To put it another way, if you're suffering an illness, does that make you an expert on the illness? Does it make you qualified to treat the illness? Clearly no, on both counts. Being a victim of racism isn't immune to anecdotal bias more than any other phenomenon. The cultural phenomenon of racism or sexism is not well-represented by a single person's experiences and it certainly doesn't give them any more license than an expert to attempt to proscribe a treatment.
I've seen this type of ad hominem a lot and I'm not sure why so many people fall for it. I would take the historian every time. Aside from the well-studied facts showing that memory and eye-witness testimony are hugely inaccurate, in a movie about the 20s we would expect to see the 20s. We would want the period represented accurately as a whole, not one person's perspective. In a movie about Ray Charles, we would certainly like Ray Charles' input, but that is only because the movie is about Ray Charles' perspective.
To put it another way, if you're suffering an illness, does that make you an expert on the illness? Does it make you qualified to treat the illness? Clearly no, on both counts. Being a victim of racism isn't immune to anecdotal bias more than any other phenomenon. The cultural phenomenon of racism or sexism is not well-represented by a single person's experiences and it certainly doesn't give them any more license than an expert to attempt to proscribe a treatment.