Only in America can the basic definitions of patrician and elite become inaccurately interchanged. I suppose this is of no surprise as America continues to dramatically dip in education rankings, especially in math and science, in the International forum (see: here, here, here, and here). According to American Heritage Dictionary, 'Elite' means "the best or most skilled members of a group." It carries no specific denotation of being out of touch with the average person in the way bourgeoisie or patrician do, so let's start using correct terminology here. Now that we have that out of the way, it's important to ask what exactly causes this extreme dissonance toward achievement & intelligence. I like to think of it as an ingrained feature of a culture driven by what the mainstream media offers them.
The media, by virtue of self-interest, continue to be complicit in America's pathological trend toward idiocracy by making sure to dumb down every aspect of a subject. When it comes to the election, for example, what is important to Americans? Is global warming important? Maybe increased economic stress & stratification? Is the American life expectancy rate, which is dropping in some areas of the U.S. (something unheard of for an industrialized nation), important? Maybe the lack of universal health care, and the desegregation of commerce and scientific research and the consequences thereof are important? Perhaps the strain on our military and national economy, as well as the inhumane truth of 500,000 to 1 million dead in Iraq is an important issue.
If you say yes, the media is here to inform you that you are WRONG. What is important is: a lapel pin, a Bosnian story, a religious person, and the all-important opinionating of what should be characterized as important by non-authoritative pundits. (Sidenote: Great job MSNBC with your primary coverage; let's allow Pat Buchanan and Joe Scarborough to set the tone as to what is important for the Democratic primary, clearly a smart move. Nothing like a couple of bulldog Republicans to characterize Obama as a wimp, as if him being temperamental, aggressive, or confrontational is a good thing.) If you don’t believe me, just ask Chris Matthews, who equated the Reverend Wright as “Obama’s Iraq”. Yes, that’s right, Reverend Wright is tantamount to causing a million deaths, I forgot how stupid we all are. The media and cultural desire for dilution of substance, that results from our consumer-driven & service-based economy is what generates this dissonance toward any type of elitism by virtue of dumbing down every aspect of an issue to the lowest common denominator: stupid people. Yes, I’m aware dumbing is not a word.
The point of all of this is to say, clearly, that as a nation we are genuinely stupid. We are. The tell-all feature of a stupid person is their lack of ability to listen to someone who is smart, and basically to act accordingly when their own judgment (as a stupid person) is not to be trusted. (*A corollary to this is to say that stupid people shouldn't vote. Just saying.) And as a nation, since being elite is apparently a bad thing, this makes us stupid as a whole. As someone who would consider himself an elite American, except that term is apparently oxymoronic by virtue of my logical deduction, I would like to say screw all of you who are so entirely insecure with your self-concept that you would prefer to vote for a guy who couldn’t multiple ¾ and ½ over a guy who, might just understand the sociological implications of behaviors such as religious zealotry. Damn that man for having an Internationally ranked first class education! Clearly he doesn't understand the intricacies of drinking shots and asking how the Phillies are doing. This definies stupidity. It’s nice to know that as a nation we think of ourselves as the only superpower--elite as a whole--but detest American citizens that happen to be elite in their individual academic pursuits. Love the paradox of western Individualism: let's chastise those who are *actually* individuals! How dare they refuse to conform to our anti-conformist conformity by not being retarded media-loving drones.
To the point, the moral of the story here is simple: Start listening to the *elite*, and maybe the cyclical circling of the drain known as your life might actually improve.
P.S.: Since Pat Buchanan wishes to equate Barack Obama with Michael Dukakis, ask yourself one question: would the country be better off or worse off in that period of time had there been someone other than Bush in office? The economy was a house of cards (thanks, Reagan), and you may wish to bear in mind that it set the stage for George W.’s presidency.
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