"Elitism": the new "Liberal".
Which was the new "Card Carrying Member of the ACLU".
Which was the new "Pinko". Which was the new "Jew-boy". And each manifestation, each new framing of radical right wing conservative expressions of disdain was and continues to be extrapolated from one source: fear. Fear of losing profit, losing identity, losing hegemony, losing power.
And just plain losing.
Some people are desperate to identify what vexes them so they frame it in ways they can wholly accept even if not consciously choosing to entirely understand. The idea of thoroughly analyzing the object of their wrath, let alone admitting their own foibles and vulnerabilities is anathema, tantamount to weakness. After all, their analyses might result in exoneration. And that would leave these people feeling as though they lacked purpose. We smear, we're here, so get used to it.
It's always been a tactic for a bully to assume the characteristics (however unbelievably) of the bullied. In this past election year rather than dwell for too long in the area of intellectual exchange and civil debate, the bully inherent in the American persona could stand it no more, shoved all the pantywaists aside and assumed its dominance over the scene by accusing the remaining participants of things any normal person would find repugnant. Elitists. Appeasers. The real problem is that the bullies are our brothers, our sisters, our selves. They're no longer just the usual suspects.
Again, Republican strategists have a cynical but canny understanding of American nature, how susceptible it is, how easily (if one is patient) a subliminal suggestion can be planted, take root and then, when the time is right, be brought to unquestioning kinesis at the utterance of a choice word or piquant phrase. Evil, brilliant and effective, it has recently been co-opted by the traditional victims of this very maneuver except with a result that brings a smile to every intelligent right wing designer's oily lips.
Being a bully means never having to say you're sorry.
They simply can't. It ain't in 'em. But in anyone else's hands, bullying is toxic and the user can't handle the concentrated amount as it seeps through the skin and into the bloodstream, eventually breaking down the ersatz bully's intention and causing chaos under their roof.
It would be disingenuous to say after so much vitriol "Come on now, all's fair in love and war. Let's be friends!". But would it be sensible to scuttle years of righteous anger at the politics of division and the opportunity to right the fatal wrongs of the Bush Dark Age? Could it be that in some way the self abasing sniping between the Obama and the Clinton camps in fact plays perfectly into the soulless game plan of the bullies and their unrivaled genius for manipulating the behavior of the average American? Have years of frustration given way to the same desperate need to frame what vexes us in ways that we can accept but not dare to fully understand? Are we...them?
Elitists of the world unite! You've nothing to lose but your lattes!