In defence of elitism
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008(And just to clarify: by that, I mean excellence and great achievement. Not looking down your nose at people.)
There’s an excellent article by Sam Harris on Newsweek’s site right now. Entitled ‘When Atheists Attack’ (love it!), he rips into Sarah Palin’s religious beliefs and how they shape her world view (”In what respect, Charlee?”) and talks about the “elitist” slur that taints Obama and Biden and, well, the left in general. An extract:
“Ask yourself: how has “elitism” become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth - in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn’t seem too intelligent or well educated.”
Which was, of course, George W Bush’s ’strength’ - and one of the reasons why he won. Twice. Well, won once.
I’ve always found the ‘elitist’ tag in American politics interesting, as it doesn’t seem to exist in Britain. Sam Harris asks how it became a dirty word - and it certainly seems to have been around since the Clinton era, as The West Wing devotees will know. It’s a constant battle of the character of Jed Bartlet - an Ivy League educated, Nobel Prize-winning President who is continually being told by those around him that he has to play down his intellect at the risk of seeming ‘elitist’.
What’s curious - and of course, disheartening - is that, as Harris notes, the ‘elitist’ tag in American politics seems to be synonymous not with ‘money’ or ‘power’ or ‘the old boys’ network’ but with ‘intelligence’, ‘education’ and ‘intellect’.
Ergo: despite being raised by a single mother and coming from very humble beginnings, Barack Obama is an ‘elitist’ because he’s a Harvard-educated lawyer who’s written two books.
And despite owning seven houses, 13 cars and being married to a multi-millionairess, John McCain is not a member of the elite.
Any idea where this comes from, anyone? And why it doesn’t exist so much in Britain? Is it because we’ve been used to ‘the elite’ lauding it over us since, ooh, time immemorial? It really is a subject I find interesting and depressing in equal measures.
(Update: here’s an interesting right wing perspective on the issue).
