What's an Elitist Anyway?

It's very confusing trying to figure out what an elitist is these days. Who qualifies to be an elitist? Are there standards? Certain physical characteristics? Is it catching? If you somehow become one, are you better off? Worse off? Very confusing.

Like everything else, the meaning depends on who uses it. If you're an elitist-using politician, you're accusing someone of being an intellectual, an out-of-touch wine-drinking effete snob. Not good if you're the elitist-receiving politician. Obama's hearing it. John Kerry got tagged. So did George H.W. Bush when he appeared not to know what a grocery store check-out scanner was. So did Adlai Stevenson when he ran for president against Dwight Eisenhower who called him an 'egghead' -- which is another way of saying, an intellectual with lofty ideas beyond the reach of working folk.

So, is high-flown thinking an ingredient in elitism? Apparently. That makes people like Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and Hamilton elitists. So is Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk and Bill Gates.

Another component of elitism is wealth. The more bucks you have, the higher your elitist rating. People without money do not qualify so Mother Theresa is definitely not elite.

Elitism also means you belong to a select or superior group. So people like Astronauts and Navy Seals are elite -- as are former presidents, men who wear NBA championship rings and everyone in the Guinness Book of Records.

And no meaning of elitism would be compete without social status. If you are to-the-manor born, you are the desktop icon for elitism. 'Course, that depends on the manner of your manor. If your manor was Graceland, then Lisa Marie Presley is an elitist. If you had several manor houses in several different places while growing up, then George W. Bush is an elitist.

Wealth, social status, brains and belonging to a special group all do seem to be pieces of elitism. But the one component that covers it all is snobbery -- the person who looks down his, or her, nose on others, the person who thinks he is better than others, who thinks it's his way or the wrong way, who views others as inferior. So that means that racists and extreme fundamentalists are elitists.

See why it's so confusing?

Comments

[raker]

In America, only an elitist would go to a dictionary to find the definition of "elitist." Showin' off your book learnin' by finding an answer in a book is way out of bounds in America. But you CAN eat arugula and not be an elitist. For example, Bush is staggeringly wealthy, the umpteenth generation of Yankee aristocrats, educated at Andover, Yale and Harvard, but he evades the "elitist" label by talking about his fake ranch, pretending to speak like he's uneducated, walking with his arms sticking straight out like he's been unloading cargo all morning, droppin' con-snints off thuh ends 'a words, and talking about Jeebus all the time.

Elitism isn't something you do. To be elitist requires an equal and opposite reaction of indignation at the elitist's failure to pander. You can act below your raisin' like George Bush, but never at or above your raisin.' The American dream - red state version - is to feel superior by having your children do worse than you did.

[realwoman]

Katrina vander Whatever from the Nation is a classic example of an elitist. "For the people" but owns a 5,000 sq. foot mansion in (gasp) the Hamptons

[MikeMidCity]

Everybody in the Guinness Book of Records? Really?

Even the record bean eater and the shortest man? The most prolific murderer is elitist?

Well then we can only hope no one aspirers to an elitism that ends in books and movies based on the morbid bound record.

Still I see what McCain is getting at. Barack Obama, the smarty paints Harvard Law School Editor. No money but so high minded he worked the inner city garnishing voters. He was after the Presidency all along. I suppose he even thinks he knows what's best for us. Egghead indeed.

Well no more as*holes that you want to have a beer with. (I don't drink anymore, still if I did I would have a beer with Barack. I never did shots of Crown Royal.) If I wanted a President to be my pal I'd vote for someone I know. I want smart in the next President.

[mileage]

Elitists are those people who seem to sneer at you. If you're not part of the East Coast Establishment, then a lot of people with Ivy League degrees will fall into the Elitist category for you.

But if you are an East Coast Ivy League kind of guy, it's striking how the elite are the people who sneer at you.

In conclusion, the Elite are the leaders of whoever opposes you.

[rh654]

For many Americans - their view of an elitist is essentially anyone who has the money to enjoy nicer things, is able to watch the Discovery Channel and understand what is being said, knows what BBC stands for, reads books that don't always appear on Oprah, doesn't care who is winning American Idol, and those that busted their butts to get an education.

But if you talk down to people (without them knowing that you are talking down to them) and are able to come across as just a "good ol' boy" - well then you can have born into a wealthy family, used family connections to make wealth, attended Ivy League Universities, enjoyed vacations and a lifestyle that most people can't even fathom - but if you can fool them by words and actions - they won't view you as an elitist...

[MajorKong]

It's simple. An "elitist" is any Democrat who dares run for President. Kind of like how they're always "the most liberal Senator".

[CaribMan]

If having a degree from HARVARD LAW SCHOOL and not going to WALL STREET to make $500,000. per year but go to CHICAGO to help lobby youths and fight for the rights of the poor. I like them Elitist. If it was me I'd be driving home now in a 500SL or a Porche Cayman to see my wife and kids. Thats why I am voting for Borak Obama.

[lapdogs]

It depends on who the person that is referring to someone else as being "elite".

For instance, are you referring to Chris Matthews calling Barack "elite", at the same time when Chris owns Three Mercedes?

Or are you referring to John McCain, who called Barack elite at the same time that John McCain owns Eight Houses?

Is that what you mean by your "elite question"?

[denlong]

Anyone who thinks that they should be potus; is an elitist

[MikeMidCity]

Bingo.

[1question]

I"ve had enough of the lies, distortions, and distractions. I need a President who understands the value of truth and credibility.

I think the next POTUS needs to be "exceptionally elite "and...then some.

[toppergem]

Elitism we all can be classified as elitists. We all think there are groups of people that we are better than, smarter than, more wealthy than, want to rule...so Hillary, John, Barack, GW and others are not alone.

[GenXLiberal]

People who think they have better morals than you, or can send the poor to war, or lie with no accountability. Basically a republicon!

[Scarabus]

Whoa! "Burnt" apparently seeks to become "Burner." Of others, naturally. :-) Anyhow....

I'm an academic and consequently have had to deal with this "elitist" thing forever. The professional context for me has been complaints by colleagues about our Honors program. The gist of their complaints has been that Honors is an "elitist" program.

Mind you! This is at a university with selective admissions; with sports teams that actively recruit and accept only the best athletes; with a music school and music ensembles for which one must audition; with theater productions for which one must try out.... You get the point.

In other words, even at an academic institution where 95% of the faculty have earned Ph.D.s and the other 5% equivalent credentials, the anti-intellectual crap about elitism flourishes. (See Hofstadter's _Anti-Intellectualism in American Life_, 1963, and subsequent studies.)

Forgive the jargon and--apologies to Howard Gardner--but we're all "differently gifted." Professional athletes have gifts I admire but don't share. Same for professional musicians, dancers, prestidigitators, etc. I'm privileged to have earned a Ph.D. from a top-shelf research institution. But I can't dunk a basketball, sing "Che gelida manina," attain the elevation of the young Baryshnikov when leaping from a demi-plie, drive a vehicle in a NASCAR race. No. I'm just your basic nerd.

We are stronger together than we are alone. We are definitely stronger when combining gifts rather than dissing other's gifts.

[littlepuffycloud]

People who use "In other words" are elitists, because they think we're too stupid to understand what they're saying, so they drone on and on using example after boring example to make their boring point.

[aninconvenientgay]

I think that you just proved Scarabus' point.

[JLee]

Or they're people who understand that points don't always get across so well and take the time to clarify.

[dadw5boys]

An Elitiest to me is someone who would have no idea of how to feed, house or cloth themselves or their famlies during very hard times. Fortunatly they usually have the cash to distance themselves frm those worrys.

An Olde Country Boy now he can run a trot line for fish in a heart beat if prices get to high. He can milk a cow, slaughter a beef or pig if need be for meat. He can build his own home with his own hands too.

A country boy will survive and most likely save the elitiest at the same time with the food production he can tap into in no time.

[Fairfloss]

An elitist is some one who swears they are colored blind, but admits they hate Rednecks. : >)

[dadw5boys]

Hell rednecks hate rednecks. Thats what rednecks do hate anyone they don't like.

[Fairfloss]

Hey dadw5boys, you must be a true elitist, if you didn't get the obvious joke in that one simple little sentence.
An elitist also lacks a sense of humor.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

Are you saying that people with a sense of humor are better, OR ELITE, in comparison to those without such a sense?

damn elitists are everywhere!

[MrKnuckles]

I think in retrospect Hillary will be seen to have really lost this race way back when she first decided it was a nifty idea to openly insult Obama"s supporters by calling them pie in the sky dreamers who had been easily duped into believing in a childish political fairytale.
I keep wondering how on God"s earth Hillary could have possibly believed that she"d somehow manage to win back the support of those Obama followers for the general election after so crassly labeling them as naive and weak minded? Such sneering, shortsightedness and egoistic contempt surely must qualify as one definition of elitist behavior.

[mamacat]

An elitest is someone who thinks that they are better than everyone else.

Someone who is part of an elite, such as the intellectual elite, or the athletic elite, or the culinary elite, actually has some measureable superior quality or ability, whether it be in education, physical prowess, or palate.

A political elite, or aristocrat, is someone who excercises power beyond that which most people think they have a right to, and who demands and excercises priviliges beyond that which most people think they are deserved.

Thus, in our country, the educated elite tend to be Democrats, and the political elite tend to be Republicans, with a few notable exceptions.

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

Gore Vidal said a narcissist is someone better looking than you are, so maybe an elitist is someone smarter than you are. Wealth apparently is not a factor-- George W. Bush, son of a president, of big oil, of vast political and business connections, can clear brush on his ranch in Crawford with his sleeves rolled up and he's a man of the people.

America is afraid of smart people because education is so unfamiliar to us. We fear the unknown. Who are these people who read poems (pronounced "pomes") and listen to Mozart (pronounced "Moe's art")? Culture is a threat because A) it's hard, B) it's boring and C) its appreciation implies a certain inequality, whereas anyone is able to go to Best Buy.

An elitist isn't the person who can afford a $12,000 HDTV in every room-- it's the person who prefers the $12 paperback novel by Henry Green.

Of course, Obama really isn't a brainiac. Don't worry. He might write rhythmically interesting prose, but he is essentially a man of action, a man on the move (up). Yet America is insecure about that intellectual wimp with his head so buried in a book he forgets to push the red button when another poor, distant country looks at us the wrong way-- then where would the greatest country in the history of the universe be?

[myskylark]

The blog is wrong about Washington and Henry Ford - neither one was an elistist.

Washington is the truly indispensable man in our history - without him the United States would not have survived, but he was not a lofty thoughts kind of guy. He was physically impressive, the tallest man in any room, and he was uniquely positioned by temperament and resume to garner the trust and admiration of a nation.

Henry Ford was an industrial genius, but he remained very close to his middle class roots and values. He was also a miserable, bigoted son of a bitch.

Snobbery is the foundation of elitism. There are many academicians who can't rub two nickels together, but because of their education and self-perceived intellect, look down on plumbers who make lots of money.

I'm afraid Obama fits that description. His statements in San Francisco were demeaning to a whole class of people.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

You sound bitter... and elitist.

[burnt]

"See why it's so confusing?"

In a previous post, you claim: "Democracy, pure democracy, is unworkable and does require parameters - which is why the Founding Fathers created representative democracy."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-alderman/citizen-journalism-can-we_b_97286.html

You confuse this issue to the point of elitism. I am certain that you may want to believe that our founding fathers opted for representative democracy over participatory because they viewed it as inherently unworkable. Or perhaps there is another reason?

What if there was a secure and fair communication system that allowed the input of every constituent who might be affected by a governing decision? Might this not be a preferable means of decision-making as opposed to a representative form of self-governing?

That system didn't exist at Constitution signing, nor could it have been imagined. Yes, representative democracy provided an alternative to large numbers of people traveling vast distances to convene and conduct the business of governing and by application is elitist. Admittedly, we are not quite "there" yet, but those limitations have largely fallen by the wayside.

You discount the blogosphere by using "citizen reporting" as your example... and then cite lack of professionalism as the basis of your claim and go on to use "founding fathers" as your authority.

That's elitist. See why its confusing Tom? Got anything to protect? The fact that you are participating here would lead me to believe you might be a bit confused.

[peterg76]

"Elitist" seems to be anyone that the media doesn't want to listen too, usually because they're right about something where the media is wrong.

[RoloTomassi]

Elitism:

1) The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.

2) a. The sense of entitlement enjoyed by such a group or class.
b. Control, rule, or domination by such a group or class.

I don't think it's all that hard to identify the "elitists" in the US; they are those of the 1% who rule this nation, and do so without sympathy, empathy or remorse in regards to a distinct and growing economic inequity in our nation.