But now, experts are forced to assemble their own TV-ready backgrounds.

但現在，專家被迫得尋找自己的背景。

Enter the credibility bookcase, the background that makes you look like you know what you're talking about.

信譽書櫃出場，一個可以讓你看起來像是懂自己在說什麼的背景。

The bookcase has emerged as the background of choice for politicians, executives, celebrities and anyone else hoping to add a touch of authority to their amateurish video feeds.

許多政治人物、執行長、名人與任何想要為自己粗糙影片加上一點威信的人，都會選擇書櫃當做背景。

And an anonymous Twitter account, Bookcase Credibility, emerged in April to track the trend.

一個匿名的推特帳號叫做 Bookcase Credibility，在四月出現，並開始追蹤這個風潮。

Its tagline is: "What you say is not as important as the bookcase behind you."

它的標語為「你所說的內容，並不比你身後的書櫃重要。」

Take Joe Biden's bookcase.

拿 Joe Biden 的書櫃來舉例。

It contains a worn leather football which says: "I too am a finely aged American antique."

裡頭有一顆破舊的皮革橄欖球，散發著「我也是個年代久遠的美國古董」的訊息。

The British politician Liam Fox has a hardcover copy of "The Da Vinci Code," which says, "I have taste."

英國政治家 Liam Fox 有一本精裝版的「達文西密碼」，散發著「我有品味」的訊息。

"Dear God."

「天啊！」

Maybe even bad taste.

或許是很糟的品味。

And the Broadway actress Melissa Errico displays a volume called "Irish Erotic Art," which says, “We like to have fun here.”

百老匯演員 Melissa Errico 則有一本書叫「愛爾蘭情色藝術」，散發著「我們來做點有趣的事吧」的訊息。

What do you think the book says about a person that another background might not reveal?

你覺得書本比起其他背景，能夠透露出什麼特別的訊息？

It tells us what they're kind of intellectually curious about, how much they're following the trends and how much they sort of have their own pursuits.

書本可以讓我們知道，那個人對什麼感到好奇，正在追尋什麼風潮與他們自己喜歡的消遣是什麼。

You know, Prince Charles, almost his entire bookshelf is just like horse books.

像是英國的 Charles 王子，他幾乎整個書櫃都是馬相關的書。

Jane Goodall, a pretty serious individual, had this sort of cheesy crime novel.

Jane Goodall，很嚴肅的一個人，也有那種通俗的犯罪小說。

But the one that really got me is Cate Blanchett's complete 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary.

但真的引起我注意的是 Cate Blanchett，她有整整二十卷的劍橋英語詞典。

You know, I think we've always thought of her as a sort of rare creature you know, and this just kind of heightened that sense.

我們一直都覺得她是種稀有動物，她的書櫃更加深了這個看法。

But for pundits, politicians and the expert class, the physical appearance of your bookshelf can be more important than the books themselves.

但對權威人士、政治家與專家們而言，書櫃本身比裡面的書還要重要。

These are the superficial choices made by people who pretend to reject superficial choices: leather binding, fine-polished wood, Encyclopedia Britannica.

這是那些討厭膚淺決定的人，所做出來的膚淺決策——皮革裝訂、拋光木頭甚至大英百科全書。

The credibility bookcase signals class, education and money.

信譽書櫃象徵著階級、教育程度及財富。

Suddenly everyone looks like they're Zooming in from their private law office or the set of Beauty and the Beast.

突然之間，好像所有人都在私人法律辦公室或「美女與野獸」的場景前面視訊。

And nothing screams credibility as much as a suit.

沒有什麼東西可以比西裝更能散發權信感。

We don't often talk about the aesthetics of credibility, but intellectual authority actually has a specific and highly inflexible look.

我們不太討論權信的美學，但高知識份子其實有著特定且不變的外表。

In this country, it's a dark suit on a white man.

而在美國，就是指白人加上深色西裝。

And if you deviate slightly from that mold, some enforcer of the status quo will take notice.

如果你稍微偏離這個軌道，某些這種現況的擁護者就會發聲。

Remember when Obama wore a tan suit?

記得歐巴馬穿棕色西裝的時候嗎？

The president stands behind the decision to wear his summer suit at yesterday's news conference.

總統決定在昨天的新聞發佈會上穿上他的夏季套裝。

And when the Congressman Pete King went on CNN to slam the color of the president's suit?

而當國會議員 Pete King 上 CNN 抨擊歐巴馬的西裝顏色時...

And I thought the suit was a metaphor for his lack of seriousness.

我以為那套西裝，是散漫的象徵。

He did it in front of a credibility bookcase.

他是在信譽書櫃前做的。

This actually looks pretty legit.

這其實看起來很真。

Traditionally, treating books as purely decorative objects has been seen as anti-intellectual.

傳統而言，將書本當成純裝飾品，會被視為反知識份子。

Until recently, the bookcase aesthetic has been dominated by the design sensibilities of Instagram in which books are often arranged not by author or subject, but by color and height.

直到最近，書櫃美學在 IG 上掀起風潮，書本不再是照著作者或主題來排序，而是用顏色與高度。

"And if you have some old books but they're a bit ugly, you can always put them with the spines facing inwards because the pages go with anything."

「如果你覺得舊書看起來很醜，你可以把書脊朝內放，因為書頁搭什麼都好看。」

When the lifestyle influencer Lauren Conrad filmed a tutorial video in which she slashed into books and put their hollowed out husks on display, she got so much hate for it that she deleted all evidence of what she did, or at least she tried to.

當生活系列網紅 Lauren Conrad 發佈了教學影片，教大家如何將書本挖空拿來當裝飾品時，受到了許多攻擊，所以她將所有相關影片刪除，但早就被備份了。

So it's remarkable how quickly the bookcase has been reclaimed as an intellectual accessory, and integrated into the brittle aesthetic rules of authority.

很值得觀察的一點是，書櫃很快的就變成知識份子的裝飾品，並融入創造權威的美學之中。

When we see these in the background of a talking head, it's strangely reassuring.

當我們看到書櫃在講者的背景，意外地會有種可靠感。

It makes us feel like the levers of expertise and professionalism are operating normally, even though, right now, they are very much not.

它可以提高人們對於講者專業性的感覺，即使他們並沒有。

"Yep, that's me busted wearing shorts on GMA."

「沒錯，那就是我，被抓到上 GMA 時只穿內褲。」

"My casual bottom-half going viral."

「我平常的休閒穿著一夕爆紅。」