To paraphrase Gordon Gekko, elitism is good.
There was one thing that surprised me about this past weekend’s “news coverage” – it’s not that the Tea Party Convention was covered but the fact that it was covered seriously.
I would even go as far as to say that I was shocked …wait that’s too far… mystified to find that reputable news outlets were giving serious discussion and analysis to Tom Tancredo opening speech (and the entire convention for that matter). What I would describe shocking is reputable and respected news outlets describing Tancredo’s speech as anything but racist, dangerous and as American as the Malawian born Englishman writing this article.
Furthermore, what stuck out at me from the overwhelmingly thinly veiled soup of hatred for anything slightly tanned is the loathing of people who have done well for themselves in life. Now I know that this may sound confusing, it confused me for awhile, but the same group of people who profess to be standing up for American values (working hard, providing for your family, making a good honest living, picking yourself up by the bootstraps) hate those very same people who fit that mold if they happen to be non-white, Democrat, pro-choice Republicans or gay…Oh, and Muslim. What’s the code word they use for anyone that falls under any aforementioned categories? Elitist(s).
Well to paraphrase the fictional republican Gordon Gekko (just guessing- he was a banker, shunned banking laws and restrictions and he looked like he hated taxes) – Elitism is good.
If your parents (grandparents or guardians) scraped all the money they had and managed to get you through an Ivy League education and you managed to work yourself up from the gutter politics of Chicago to become the President of the United States, and you are still described as an elitist? Well then, elitism is good.
No? Well what about if you were born into a famous dynastical family from the great red state of Connecticut and every step in your life from your education down to your career as, let’s say, the President of the United States had a monarchical feel to it, are you still described as an elite? No, you’re a Patriot.
The Conservatives are playing a very dangerous short term game, which if demographics are to be believed will not benefit them in the long term. Make no mistake about it, what the media coverage of this convention has made me realize is that this a coup for the heart and soul of the GOP. This is how they are choosing to define themselves in the Obama era, more hate, less inclusive and with no new ideas and funnily enough, the “media” is falling fall it.
It seems like I am living in a parallel universe where everyone has forgotten what happened the 8 years before the scary elitist guy with the name Hussein took the White House from the American people. I thought anti-intellectualism/anti- elitism was rejected in the 2008 elections? Is there anything wrong with having a President who is actually smarter than you? Heck is there anything wrong with having a President who is smarter than most people in the country?
29 Responses to “To paraphrase Gordon Gekko, elitism is good.”
America will be a good reminder to the rest of the world that democracy doesn't equal meritocracy, and must therefore be limited effectively.
Heck is there anything wrong with having a President who is smarter than most people in the country?”
Smart does not necessarily mean wise. Smart often makes common sense mistakes (see cash for clunkers, trial in NYC, HCR before jobs). Also. dumb, stupid, etc., the insults hurled at B don't equate to wise either.
Nothing wrong with having a President who is smarter than I. Of course, there's nothing per se right about it either. Leadership and vision are both different than IQ. Not that IQ doesn't help, it sure does. But I know some very smart people who are bad leaders and some much less intelligent folks who are great leaders.
My own view is the knock of elitism is well demonstrated in your post. The always implicit and sometimes explicit argument is “people who don't agree with me are at best ignorant or misinformed, potentially stupid, or perhaps evil.”
If you call people who disagree with you stupid (either implicitly or explicitly), you are likely to be perceived as an elitist, whether you are one or not.
The GOP really has a profound ability to compartmentalize their philosophies to avoid mental tripwires. They imply we are a christian nation, but they are pro death penalty and anti-tax, things Christ was pretty explicit about. We are the most free nation on earth, but they want to slap more restrictions down on how people live and act than anyone other party. Immigrants are the bane of this country, when we are all immigrants and its actually one of our greatest strengths throughout history. The elitist one is one of my favorites. College educated and especially lawyers are demonized by them because when your catering to “real americans” its an easy potshot to take. Even when that potshot is made by an Ivy league lawyer like Ann Coulter about Ivy league lawyers. Educated views are more nuanced and don't fit into 10 second sound bites, easy to rip apart with simplistic and unsupported views that do fit into 10 second sound bites.
Just give up trying to make the kind of conservative represented by the Tea Party folks connect the dots. Give them a premise in line with their preconceived ideas and they don't need any dots.
A President can be more intelligent than most of the population without being elitist. Einstein was no snob. Elitism relates to attitude, not intellect.
If you call people who disagree with you stupid (either implicitly or explicitly), you are likely to be perceived as an elitist, whether you are one or not.”
No one does that on TMV.
relates to attitude, not intellect.”
And Johnson was not touted as a genius, but he sure got things done.
“A President's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.
Lyndon B. Johnson.”
I can see you being shocked by the MSM coverage, particularly if you are of a Liberal/Left/Democratic mindset.
This is the group of people that pretended nothing was going on when hundreds, then thousands, then even tens of thousands of people showed up. Then when they couldn't ignore it any longer, the narrative became 'astroturfing'. Now you are saying the new narrative is 'racism.
Disgusting, really.
And this is the same MSM that if 20 – 25 Code Pink/MoveOn.org people showed up to scream about Bush, would claim it another barometer of total hatred the entire country had for Bush and his policies.
Well, except for the racists, who are now Tea Partiers.
“I can see you being shocked by the MSM coverage, particularly if you are of a Liberal/Left/Democratic mindset.”
No I'm not. The media never reacts to the hypocrisy, the partisanship or the the audacity of the lies and the childish anti-Obama screaming, which is completely unsurprising to me.
“This is the group of people that pretended nothing was going on when hundreds, then thousands, then even tens of thousands of people showed up.”
We reacted appropriately – we jeered at their “We can do civil stuff too!” aesthetic and their “You have to respect and listen to our drooling because we are salt-of-the-earth citissuns!” rationales.
It doesn't matter if there are tens of millions of people – consensus only has statistical value. If they desire stupid things, then you just try to find a way to avoid them somehow, or even cut them out of proceedings and ram things down their throat. The country is failing not because these people have been overlooked, but because they dominate society and influence it too much. It's obvious their history of standing up to authority or demanding fiscal responsibility is pathetic – they are just ferocious anti-democrat bigots.
They are acting as if Obama is like the pinnacle of some exclusively left-wing push for debt and government expansion that never benefits them. That kind of solipsism and pure greed is usually present in rabid vermin.
53 % of Americans are so poor of mind that they can think homosexuality is immoral. A majority of Americans supported the invasion of Iraq despite the fact that a child could see it was a poor move. Do you want me to give you my opinion of the vox populi in general and the American vox populi in particular?
“And this is the same MSM that if 20 – 25 Code Pink/MoveOn.org people showed up to scream about Bush, would claim it another barometer of total hatred the entire country had for Bush and his policies.”
Actually, they gave less attention to the anti-war protests than the march of the bluehaired. So your martyrdom has an even more infantile basis than usual.
Well he didn't know the first thing about conducting the beginning of a war.
LBJ got mixed results and was very incompetent at certain things. It's just that in America image and projection is valued over content and substance, which is the main reason your country is so flawed and weakened.
Cool Axel,
I guess I should nominate you for philosopher king then. Particularly when you conclude that anyone who disagrees with you is simply stupid.
Actually many of them are saying they don't want the government to spend more even if it benefits them. That seems a not unreasonable point of view.
I suspect we can infer your opinion of vox populi from your comment. If you think it's different than the likely inference (people are stupid and should be led by the few of us who know better), please do enlighten us.
I'm actually torn between thinking you believe what you post and thinking you are a very talented blog troll. I need more data
HI there
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dr.e
deputy managing editor, TMV
which is the main reason your country is so flawed and weakened.”
I was expecting to catch a whale with that one, but I guess a royalist is just as good. Yes, like many presidents, he had mixed results, but he knew how to accomplish things unlike your hero the Pied Piper of Chicago. I know all of your former leaders were perfect as are you. When are you moving to NZ, I'm sure the Maori will welcome you on their moderate blogs.
We're Weimar
Now that's a quality rant that gets two thumbs up…
Bullsh*t!!!
Elitism relates to being amongst the best at whatever it is that you do… And Einstein was a member of an elite… The best & smartest physicist of the twentieth century… Employed in an institution that went out of it's way to hire the best & smartest scientist, engineers and scholars it could find… An ELITE INSTITUTION…
You can be a member of the elite and an assh**e, it's not that unusual…
Oh, I just can't resist.
You mean like JS and I discussing how hard it is to play Yes songs?
“I'm actually torn between thinking you believe what you post and thinking you are a very talented blog troll. I need more data”
Maybe psy-ops I've wondered myself. Although his comments are amusing.
Man I'm sure glad its only the Tea Partiers who are the haters.
OT write a piece on yessongs, and I'll likely run it. 500 words.
dr.e
Sorry but LBJ is possibly one of the greatest presidents American's will never know. In short Civil Rights legislation would have never passed under JFK, first he did not have the guts and secondly it was not an issue he was passionate about. LBJ on the other hand was and so the nation finally began to put its money where its mouth was on liberty for all. He sacrificed his presidency on the fallacy of the domino theory of geopolitics and sadly toward the end of his presidency he realized it. He would not be remembered for civil rights, he would not be remembered for medicare/caid, instead burned into his tombstone would only read “hey LBJ how many kids did you kill today.” From my view in the realm of political theater it is one of the greatest tragedies of our country but you are free to disagree. If LBJ was incompetent it was not in moving forward legislation but only in not foreseeing Vietnam before we had our first Vietnam.
True enough…
BTW fix your tags…
I don't hate them, I fear them…
They are the kind of ignorant jackasses that have been used by every right wing dictator to come to power…
LBJ, whether you liked him or not, had loads of experience with Congress he knew how to get things done. I don't mean this in a derogatory way just as a statement of fact. Obama lacks the experience to handle Congress as effectively as LBJ. Just having Rahm Emanuel doesn't seem to be cutting it.
You are very kind in your offer, but I doubt there is much interest at TMV for the technical intricacies of Yes songs, even if they have perhaps the most inter-weaved layers of complexity and composition, plus the highest overall level of musicianship, of any of the prog-rock bands.
OT
I know. That's what they said about other giants too. But, if you change your mind, let me know. we have talked about accepting submissions of reviews of books, music, remembrances, appreciations.
dr.e
MagicalSky -
You are correct. I, too, never had a high opinion of LBJ, until I visited his presidential library.
I have visited a number through the years, and his is the only one that I have seen that is not a shrine to the man, but rather a no-holds barred look at his whole career – warts, failures, ballot stuffing, his fits of depression (he had to be literally dragged out of bed many times in the morning because he refused to get out and face the day), etc.
And what shines through in the end is his humble beginnings, his true devotion to the poor and underprivileged, his willingness to sacrifice his career over Civil Rights (which likely would have brought him down at the time even without Vietnam), and his incredible skills at political infighting to get what he wanted.
You don't have to agree with his politics (I don't as a whole) to admire who and what he was, and what he accomplished.
And concerning Vietnam, people forget he wanted to pull out, but between the military lying to him about the situation and his advisers (who were complicit with the military) harping on not being the first President to lose a war, etc., he really felt trapped into the decisions he ultimately made.
And those decisions, and the weight of the deaths they caused to American soldiers, destroyed him from within after he left office.
Just having Rahm Emanuel doesn't seem to be cutting it.”
Yup.
“I doubt there is much interest at TMV for the technical intricacies of Yes songs”
Progressive rock — now that's something “progressive” everyone on a higher plane can appreciate.