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Thank you Arnd for your kind words and well considered feedback.

Yes indeed I am a big fan of the Chinese room thought experiment as well. It is great example of the limits of the Turing test. And yes I would agree representative democracy requires a substantial amount more than being on TV in a hard hat and fluoro vest.

Your objection/question in the last two paragraphs is an extremely important one, and I am glad you have raised it. Regarding your question of the soldier in Afghanistan, yes we can come to conclusions concerning war from the descriptive knowledge about war without necessarily hearing the stories from war veterans’ acquainted knowledge. However, issues like PTSD and homelessness amongst veterans do require seeking out their acquainted knowledge. Furthermore, the distribution of resources from the government and policy decisions usually gets more attention when there advocacy groups that involve individuals who have such acquainted knowledge. The department of veteran’s affairs would be a good example.

The example above partly would cover your question regarding the relevance of acquainted knowledge. Without knowing what it is ‘like’ to experience something, we can be vulnerable to not emphasising its importance, or sometimes not at all. Examples of this would be when some people say that Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders should just “get over it!” or when some people scoff at the ideas of having trigger warnings for sexual assault victims.

I hold a bit of controversial view about the ethics and morality about universal humanism and group membership, I actually think we are entitled to hold issues that concern our group membership above those concerning other groups, but that would take another whole essay to spell out lol! 
Please feel free to respond further, I wanted to go into more detail but I feared this may be getting too long.

Thanks again.