Elitism

When I was in high school I had some friends who were a year ahead of me.  Over the Christmas holidays during my senior year I went to a party where my older friends had just returned from their first semester in college.  As with most college freshmen, these students were alive with their new-found knowledge, both academic and of the world.  That is fine, but what I recall is being disgusted by the arrogant attitude that they had taken on.  Somehow they believed themselves superior to most of the world because they could discuss the intricacies of classical music and knew in detail the distinguishments of composers and their symphonies, that they could discuss the depths of Plato and Aristotle, that they could rattle off psychological or economic theories, etc.  Understand, I was not offended by the knowledge or the education, but by the condescending airs that the new holders of this knowledge had adopted.  For I did not then, and still do not believe that the possession of education and knowledge makes anyone person superior to another.

Sadly, though, so many who obtain some education believe that it makes them somehow better than those who do not have the same knowledge base.  How often have I seen my fellow professionals treat their secretaries or assistants as if they were simply another office copy machine and not a human being.  Perhaps this is why, despite my own professional status, I would prefer to spend time with those secretaries than the self-proclaimed elites.

What is especially annoying to me is that these elites not only think they have every right to look down their noses at and be patronizing to those who have acquired less than they have (be that knowledge or money or status), but that they also believe that they know better than the people themselves how those people should run their lives.  They speak without any knowledge or understanding of the circumstances of those different from them as they tell them how to raise their children, what to eat, and even what to believe.  They proclaim that they are helping those less fortunate than themselves by taking over their lives, but what they are really doing is showing their belief than these people are too stupid to manage their own lives, that they are second-rate or second-class and need those better than them, those first rate, first class elites in order to survive.  Gifts from the elite that control one’s life are not gifts of kindness, but a demand for love and a creation of dependence as a means to power for those elites.

Many in America understand this; they are the Americans who have been referred to as deplorables and worse.  The people who would rather have a casserole potluck in a church basement than attend a black-tie affair where they are served arugula lettuce, range fed filet mignon, and caviar.   These people would rather talk with plain (and sometimes colorful or politically incorrect) words than the ten-dollar carefully chosen and always proper language of the elite.  These are real Americans, not plastic people. 

And there is one thing that is especially notable about these real Americans:  they are tolerant.  Tolerant of everyone, not just those who have attained their status.  And, unlike those elite who think they have the answers for everyone, these real Americans do not demand that everyone think like them or do things their way.  They tolerate the lifestyles and views and values of others and assume that others will return the favor.  And, in their world, others do. 

But, the world of the elites is different.  They do not tolerate those who are different in life style or knowledge base or world view.  And, they take the very un-American position of demanding that all others accept and conform to their positions; those who do not are branded as deplorable, as less than, as lacking in education and understanding.  But the understanding that these elites see as lacking is really just a willingness to agree that they are somehow better and therefore should be in control, control of the country and all those who do not meet their standards. 

Personally, I detest this attitude.  But, let’s be clear:  I do not detest the education or the other successes that those with elitist attitudes often have.  Education is good.  Success is good.  Many people have these things without becoming the haughty and disdainful elites I here describe.  But to use those things to bolster a self-centered belief that one is somehow better than those who do not possess such education, status, or success is disgusting.  Worse yet is to believe that because of one’s elite status one has a right to power and even worse is to believe that power includes the right to direct fully the lives of those that one sees as somehow inferior.    

In Washington today, and on the East and West coasts, we see far too many elites of the type I describe.  And we have the rest of America and the president they elected who are trying to right the ship back to a country where all people are equal and where an elitist power structure does not try to rule every aspect of every person’s every day life.  Let’s just hope that America stays strong and that we can go back to a country filled with respect and tolerance for everyone, not just those who are members of the elite power class.