>we allow people to sound what alarms they want and patrons to decide for themselves what to pay attention to

I think the above alteration throws the dilemma into a little sharper relief.

We live in a complex society which requires a degree of deference to "expert authority" in order to function. Our collective ability to agree on how to determine who (or what) qualifies as such an authority is not working well. I do not have any answers in which I am confident, just Socrates line on the beginning of wisdom.