Should the American Left accept that it is an elite?

[thebomb]

In this exiled article, Mark Ames writes that the American Left should embrace and accept its "eliteness" if it ever hopes to win over Middle America. What do you think?

What makes it so difficult to accept the notion that the tweedy Left is an elite is that, compared to America’s real elite — the all-powerful, vampiric right-wing oligarchy–the tweed elite is insignificant. Somehow the kleptocrats managed to invert objective American reality, making themselves “regular folks” in the eyes of the Debbies, while liberals and leftists, whose platforms are designed to help the poor and middle-classes at the expense of the wealthy, have been successfully tagged “elitists.” How did it work out that Bush, a pampered prep school brat who came from generations of wealth and never had to struggle in his life, is considered “regular folks” by the regular folks, whereas Clinton, who came from truly horrible white trash in Arkansas, the kind of poor broken home that Debbie was only a step or two away from and may yet end up in herself, is considered an elitist?

http://exiledonline.com/elite-versus-elitny/

 

[PokerGuy]

In this exiled article, Mark Ames writes that the American Left should embrace and accept its "eliteness" if it ever hopes to win over Middle America. What do you think?

http://exiledonline.com/elite-versus-elitny/

Fail article is fail.

How did it work out that Bush, a pampered prep school brat who came from generations of wealth and never had to struggle in his life, is considered “regular folks” by the regular folks, whereas Clinton, who came from truly horrible white trash in Arkansas, the kind of poor broken home that Debbie was only a step or two away from and may yet end up in herself, is considered an elitist?

Elitism has nothing to do with your background or your parents or your wealth or your education. When the leftists are called elitists it a reference to their notion that they know better than the "common people" what is good for them. The notion that "regular people" need help from the liberal elite and/or government to make decisions and guide their lives.

People say "hey, this health care legislation sucks, I want to keep what I have now". Obummer / Elitist response "they just don't know or understand yet how wonderful our plan is, they just need more education on the matter".

 

[her209]

People say "hey, this health care legislation sucks, I want to keep what I have now". Obummer / Elitist response "they just don't know or understand yet how wonderful our plan is, they just need more education on the matter".

People say "hey, lets extend tax cuts for the first 250,000 dollars of income". Republican / Elitist response "they just don't know or understand yet how wonderful our plan is, they just need more education on the matter".

 

[dank69]

Fail article is fail.



Elitism has nothing to do with your background or your parents or your wealth or your education. When the leftists are called elitists it a reference to their notion that they know better than the "common people" what is good for them. The notion that "regular people" need help from the liberal elite and/or government to make decisions and guide their lives.

People say "hey, this health care legislation sucks, I want to keep what I have now". Obummer / Elitist response "they just don't know or understand yet how wonderful our plan is, they just need more education on the matter".

Peanut butter manufacturers have to put a warning label on their jars that inform the public that the product may contain peanuts.

 

[ayabe]

Fail article is fail.



Elitism has nothing to do with your background or your parents or your wealth or your education. When the leftists are called elitists it a reference to their notion that they know better than the "common people" what is good for them. The notion that "regular people" need help from the liberal elite and/or government to make decisions and guide their lives.

People say "hey, this health care legislation sucks, I want to keep what I have now". Obummer / Elitist response "they just don't know or understand yet how wonderful our plan is, they just need more education on the matter".

Someone stating this: "hey, this health care legislation sucks, I want to keep what I have now" is starting with the false premise that they cannot keep what they have now, which is false. They are misinformed, period, there's nothing elitist about that.

You seem to define elitist as those who would deny you an alternate reality or truth.

 

[Pens1566]

Peanut butter manufacturers have to put a warning label on their jars that inform the public that the product may contain peanuts.

This ^. Compared to the current darlings of the right wing, lots of things would be considered "elite".

 

[MJinZ]

Wait.

I have grown up in Liberal Left America (Massachusetts) with the unspoken and obviously apparent understanding that I AM the elite.

When has anyone ever thought otherwise?

We are smarter than everyone else. We make progress happen. What else would constitute the Elite?

 

[dank69]

Wait.

I have grown up in Liberal Left America (Massachusetts) with the unspoken and obviously apparent understanding that I AM the elite.

When has anyone ever thought otherwise?

We are smarter than everyone else. We make progress happen. What else would constitute the Elite?

l2drive Masshole!

 

[MJinZ]

l2drive Masshole!

We are actually the best drivers in the world. Even NYC driving more pussies, and I drive there all the time.

Driving around Boston and not killing people who are just crawling on top of your car is fucking art.

Driving on the highway and not killing people who are doing 65 in the left lane is Trained Elite Liberal Restraint - a highly advanced mental conditioning.

 

[dank69]

We are actually the best drivers in the world. Even NYC driving more pussies, and I drive there all the time.

Driving around Boston and not killing people who are just crawling on top of your car is fucking art.

Driving on the highway and not killing people who are doing 65 in the left lane is Trained Elite Liberal Restraint - a highly advanced mental conditioning.

Psh I drove a moving truck through Boston during a blizzard, no big deal.

As to the bold above, why do you think the term Masshole was coined? 9/10 people doing that on 91 have Mass plates. Tell those fuckers to GTFO of my state!

 

[SP33Demon]

Clinton and Obama are labeled elitists because they were lawyers who finished at the top of their classes and actually possess high IQ. Bush is not labeled an elitist because he was an average frat boy student and was a businessman.

Intelligence and profession have a lot to do with generalizations.

 

[Anarchist420]

no, Obama is an elitist because he's white.

 

[ShawnD1]

Fail article is fail.


Elitism has nothing to do with your background or your parents or your wealth or your education. When the leftists are called elitists it a reference to their notion that they know better than the "common people" what is good for them. The notion that "regular people" need help from the liberal elite and/or government to make decisions and guide their lives.

When in doubt, check wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitism

Elitism is the belief or attitude that some individuals, who supposedly form an elite — a select group of people with intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most weight or those who view their own views as so; whose views and/or actions are most likely to be constructive to society as a whole

PokerGuy nailed it. Obviously elitism doesn't just mean you think your own ideas are better; you should think your own ideas are better or else you would change them. Elitism is when you think the ideas of other people are less valid than your own ideas.

Both sides are bunch of elitist cunts. The ultra rich republicans like to say "Oh well you're poor, so you don't know how business works. We don't need safety regulations." Hippy liberal fucks think it's a good idea to put a huge tax on sweet foods because people are incapable of controlling their own intake; "I know what's good for you."

 

[woolfe9999]

When in doubt, check wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitism



PokerGuy nailed it. Obviously elitism doesn't just mean you think your own ideas are better; you should think your own ideas are better or else you would change them. Elitism is when you think the ideas of other people are less valid than your own ideas.

Er, what exactly is the difference between thinking your ideas are "better" and thinking other people's ideas are "less valid" than yours? This is a distinction without any difference. You've just said the same thing two different ways. According to the way you are defining elitism, everyone is an elitist.

That isn't exactly what wiki says, however. Wiki's definition is a bit more specific than yours. The way wiki defines it, it is the belief that the ideas of a certain class of people are inherently superior simply because those people belong to that class. And wiki lists both intellect and wealth as examples. Accordingly, elitism can be of either variety: based on economic status or on intellectual status. In summary, elitism is NOT "my ideas are better than yours." That statement is meaningless. Rather, elitism is "my ideas are better than yours because I belong to a class of smart/rich/etc."

- wolf

 

[MJinZ]

Psh I drove a moving truck through Boston during a blizzard, no big deal.

As to the bold above, why do you think the term Masshole was coined? 9/10 people doing that on 91 have Mass plates. Tell those fuckers to GTFO of my state!

LOL, I like 91 there are no cops there.... I can be flying down it doing 100 and never seems to be a problem.

 

[Red Dawn]

LOL, I like 91 there are no cops there.... I can be flying down it doing 100 and never seems to be a problem.

Massholes are definitely the worse drivers in the country. The stupidity of the average idiot behind the wheel in the Boston area is unpresedented

 

[DaveSimmons]

Both parties are elitists.

Republicans think they know better than the masses about enforcing their moral and religious beliefs, their faith in unregulated capitalism, their lack of concern about pollution, species extinction, climate change.

 

[FerrelGeek]

Peanut butter manufacturers have to put a warning label on their jars that inform the public that the product may contain peanuts.

That's mostly due to the fact that we have way too many lawyers in this country and judges that are too stupid to throw out stupid lawsuits. The problem here isn't always stupid people, it's greedy people. It's also caused by people who have been conditioned to think that someone else is supposed to be looking out for them so that they don't have to do it. One of the side-effects of an elitest government.

 

[Infohawk]

The premise isn't even correct. Being left-wing doesn't make you an elite.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

The premise isn't even correct. Being left-wing doesn't make you an elite.

True enough, i'm a dem lib and that's about as right wing as you get in my nation and i'm elite.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

The premise isn't even correct. Being left-wing doesn't make you an elite.

Correct me if i'm wrong but you were one of the guys who really spewed the worst of the worst regarding Bush and longed for Obama, was happy that Obama won and now...

Now you just hate brown people and especially Muslims?

Sanity never did touch any of your senses, did it? You were extreme left and went to the extreme right, the tea pussies.

You want to fight Muslims, i promise you, if you PM me with your full name and SSN i will make it my mission to get you over here by any means neccessary so you can do just that instead of sitting at home and pissing all over us who are over here.

 

[ShawnD1]

Er, what exactly is the difference between thinking your ideas are "better" and thinking other people's ideas are "less valid" than yours? This is a distinction without any difference. You've just said the same thing two different ways. According to the way you are defining elitism, everyone is an elitist.

Elitism means you won't listen to the ideas of other people simply because they don't meet some arbitrary standard. Example: I won't listen to you because you are an inbred hillbilly.
Reasonable people will listen to ideas and reject them based on merit.

This often leads to people trying to control others "for your own good."
Republicans --> omg save you from hell!
Democrats --> omg you might get diabetus!

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Elitism means you won't listen to the ideas of other people simply because they don't meet some arbitrary standard. Example: I won't listen to you because you are an inbred hillbilly.

Reasonable people will listen to ideas and reject them based on merit.

Not really, it means that you are more capable than others to interpret the situation and act accordingly.

You do realise that is why elite groups exist in the first place? AND that they exist in every area?

How would you sort out unemployment? The debt? what would you do? oh... you don't know, well the "elitists" do know and they are not afraid to actually do what is good for the nation rather than to please their voters.

He could be a populist, that would have been the easiest choice and you would have been oh so ... fucked... Now he didn't because he knows that the industry will turn around and if he can save some of it, it will grow within the nation instead of being exported, in a couple of years there is a profit in that.

Besides, he's not like those Communist Republicans who thought the state should buy out businesses and run them themselves (did so during Bush too).

Communists = Republicans from what we have seen in the last decade.

 

[Moonbeam]

I think about two percent of the human race account for most of the progress humans make.

 

[ShawnD1]

Not really, it means that you are more capable than others to interpret the situation and act accordingly.

It's when you THINK you are better, which is often not true at all. Elitist and snob are almost interchangable.

examples:
People who buy Starbucks coffee think they are better than people who buy coffee at McDonalds. That is elitism.
People who refuse to listen to ideas of a high school dropout are elitists.
Republicans who desperately try to avoid doing anything done in Europe simply because it's Europe are elitists.

American culture seems a lot more elitist than usual. For example, why do so many people in the US disrespect people who do manual labor jobs? Because they drift a forklift while you sit at a computer, that means you are better than them? Driving a Prius makes you better than someone who drives a beat up truck? Having a degree from Yale makes you better than someone who has a degree from a state university?