I don't know about you, but when I think of the qualities I want in the leader of my country, "smarter than me" is rater higher than "can have a beer with"

I think much of that perception is simply what's been fed to them by politicians.

If X politician is from New York or CA or MA and went to Harvard or Yale and is a Democrat, watch out! He's an elitist/intellectual elite, who is out of touch and wants to put gays in your living room and take away your religion!

Similar to how some on the left label people from the "fly over States" or talk about racist deplorables.

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Slowguy

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Trump supporters think Trump is an elite businessman, for example, and love that. They don't think he's elitist at all, and they love that. Put the two perceptions together, and they love that the most.


I saw a bit on a morning news show where they looked at how people perceived Clinton and Trump. The Clintons, despite spending a lot of their early years in Arkansas were considered elitist. Meanwhile, Trump who is elite in terms of business, would not be seen the same way. The commentator showed a picture of Trump, on his private jet, eating KFC for dinner. That photo played well to his base because his private jet showed he was wealthy and successful in his career, but the fact that he ate like an average person reminded people that despite his wealth, he hasn't lost touch with the "average" person.

So you don't think there's any truth to the charge of elitism?

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Funny, because Bill Clinton was classic average joe when he was President. It's only since Hillary moved to the forefront that the charges of elitism began.

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Slowguy

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No, I'm sure there are legitimate examples, just like there are legitimately examples of racists among the conservative base.

However, much like our discussion about "homophobe," elite and elitist have become easy labels, and they're being used to turn people off of education, culture, the arts, and sophisticated thought and reasoning.

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Slowguy

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they're being used to turn people off of education, culture, the arts, and sophisticated thought and reasoning.

I agree with that, which is a really unfortunate reaction. But I think accusations of elitism are largely justified. That mentality is far more prevalent than outright racism or homophobia, and it isn't at all limited to Ivy League eggheads.

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

There's a fine line between "elitism" and justifiable confidence that based on significantly higher education and experience, you might have a better idea how govt works, how foreign policy works, etc.

It's not elitism for someone to realize that the vast majority of the American public can't possibly be expected to understand the complexities of a global nuclear disarmament treaty, or the legal code, etc. Take a look at the comments section of any random news article or Youtube video, and you can see what the level of discourse is for an awful lot of America.

I agree that many politicians have either actually begun to believe, or have done a poor job of preventing the people from thinking they believe that they simply know better and the masses should just be quiet and do what they're told. I don't think that's limited to the left. The right certainly sells itself better as being connected to the common man. And I don't know that we aren't headed down a road to where the public in general really is just not educated enough, interested enough in actual policy, or trained enough in basic logic and rational thought to be able to find the right way forward. Maybe we should just accept that the will of the people seems to be that we get dumber, more spoiled, etc.

When you have a nation of several thousand, it's much easier for everyone to remain engaged and informed about the full scope of policy decisions and their implications. As you grow, that gets harder and harder.

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Slowguy

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You're arguing against a strawman version of elitism. Really knocking the stuffing out of it, too. Have fun with that.

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Ok. Whatever.

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Slowguy

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no, spot off.

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"It's not like conservatives don't like people who are accomplished or famous or rich or smart or whatever. They don't like people they perceive as out of touch."
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What they don't like are people who disagree with them, and that's the same for every political bent. It's human nature to dislike people who disagree with you, That why spending time around people of different perspectives is incredibly beneficial. It humanizes different perspectives. That's one of the many bad things about the segmentalizing that has occurred in our culture in the last few decades. You can now get online and find any kind of whack job that floats your boat, and over enough time "socializing" with them, you convince one another that you're right and everyone else is wrong.