Scalzi riffs on the absurdity of the extremely wealthy and privileged Lady de Rothschild accusing Barack Obama of being “elitist”. The comments thread is most excellent and raises lots of interesting questions.
Like what does “elitist” even mean? And what does it mean when applied to Obama as it has been so often this year?
Educated? When was the last time there was a US president without a university degree? Or a serious candidate for that office without a high school diploma?
Rich? Pretty much everyone accusing him of it is much richer than he is. McCain is, Hillary Clinton ditto, and Lady de Rothschild very very much so.
I am very puzzled by the whole thing. I’m pretty sure that Obama is the only one of that lot who ever had a food stamps dinner.
Do they just mean they think Obama is smarter than them? Better dressed? Sexier? What?
Am I an elitist? I have a PhD. So do both my parents. I make a living writing books. I have been known to eat caviar and drink champagne. But I bet not nearly as much as some of the folks who are calling Obama an elitist. I’m definitely considerably poorer than any of them. Obama included.
Why wouldn’t you want the head of your country to be educated and smart and the best person for the job? If you’re looking for a surgeon to operate on your child you don’t pick someone you’d like to have a beer with. Surely your country deserves that much care?
Since when was being amongst the elite of your profession a bad thing?
The whole thing is an enormous puzzle to me.
What do you lot reckon? Are any of you elitists? Elite? Drowning in elitism? Speak your piece!
I’d say being elite means you think you’re better then the common man (whether you are or not.) As for Obama, never meet him, so no idea. But it wouldn’t be that great, I think, to have a president who was raised to believe (because of his class, sex, or race) that he was better than the common $30,000 a month american. But then have we ever had a president who met that bill?
I’m an elite, because I KNOW I’m better than everyone, I mean come on, just look at me! hehe, just joshin’! ^-^
Just a little add:
Like I said, I don’t personally know him, but here’s an interesting (if not biased) article about Obama. I think he sounds rather elite in it when he refers to today’s Black man as actin like a boy.
(warning: this article goes ON and ON!)
I’m an elitist coffee drinker. 😉
Usian politics has nothing to do with logic. If you attempt to make sense of it, you’ll only give yourself a headache. If you assume there are two power groups, composed of individual members that are “elitist” in the sense of being incredibly out of touch with the people they supposedly represent, you’ll understand it enough.
That’s seems to be the rough definition they’re using as a weapon in that argument. That Mr. Obama is out-of-touch with the “black community.” Having that put forth by Lady Rothschild is as Scalzi-san said, absurd.
Don’t watch political news. Watch South Park instead. There’s more intellectual discourse and a finer grasp of logic. 🙂
I am an elitist grocery shopper.
One of the few fields in which being elite — in opposition to popular — is valued is in the arts: how many grumpy underselling novelists have you met who will bitterly explain to you why their novel is too deep for hoi polloi?
They’re just as stupid, only in the opposite direction. It’s balance!
The “elite” slander is merely another attempt to create a hate divide. An Us Versus Them. Hate is the lifeblood of right wing politics these days. If they can sow hate based on Obama’s intellectual superiority, that’s probably more palatable for them then sowing old-fashioned race hate. But they’ll get to that. Don’t worry.
Whoops, I just read that the clueless “elite” lobber in question was not a right winger but a Hillary supporter. I guess hate is equal opportunity.
Liset: But whose to say whether someone thinks they’re better than other people or not? It smacks an awful lot of the kind of anti-intellectualism I thought I’d left behind in Australia, which turns out, sadly, not to be unique to my homeland.
I once had someone tell me that I thought I was better than them when they discovered I had a PhD. That somehow my being more educated was an insult to them. To which the only response can be: Huh?
It seems like there’s an awful lot of projecting going on.
Also I hope and pray that the person running my country, or ANY country, is better than I am. A better manager, a better politician (in the good sense of the word), a better thinker, a better human being. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, for example, does not fit that bill on any level.
veejane: Yeah, that sucks too. The people who tell me I’ve sold out because I’m published by Teh Man. Gah! I roll my eyes at them.
Lauren: Yup, it was, indeed, a Hillary Clinton supporter, which just makes the whole thing even more bewildering. On what planet is Obama more elitist than Clinton?
I think this has a lot to do w/USian confusion about class. Folks who experience a class rise–as Obama clearly did–are “uppity” or “elitist.” They have “forgotten their roots” or they “don’t care about us.” So GWBush, who is undeniably more “elite” than Obama, is not “elitist” because he didn’t betray his class. Sigh.
Libby: That explains my parents, who by that definition are both totallly uppity and elitist
Um, doesn’t “uppity” have other connotations?
“Other connotations?”–to me it means getting above oneself, thinking one is better than others…but maybe I’m missing something?
Here in the US, we have two elephants-in-the-room-we-don’t-talk-about: race and class. Race used to be #1. But these many years after our civil rights struggle, it has become easier to at least mention race in the room. Class has become #1. We use “elitism” to avoid talking about class and class-based problems in our permeable-class society. In Obama’s case, it is often used (1) to call him a hypocrite for presuming to speak for “ordinary Americans” when he is a Harvard-educated lawyer, and (2) as code for “uppity n—–.” As to de Rothschild’s comments: maybe it takes one to know one?
Oh, duh, John’s comment (above) reminds me of the racial connotations w/”uppity.” Since I have in-laws who use it about their (white) relatives I didn’t think of it that way, but yes, then it’s a double problem for Obama. Sigh.
Being elite is not the same as elitism. As Liset says, the second is more about how you feel about yourself and what you do with it. In other words, it’s OK to go to Harvard but not if you don’t want to do business with anyone who DIDN’T go to Harvard. I don’t get that from Obama at all.
But it’s true that there are shades of elitism and that you may not be aware of your own snobbishness, like when I left my lifelong home in Manhattan and was surprised to find intelligent life in NJ.
I fear that this is also bound up in race. It seems like part of Obama’s alleged elitism stems from the idea that he’s not “really” black. It’s ugly, and I don’t like it.
dictionary says:
1. practice of or belief in rule by an elite.
2. consciousness of or pride in belonging to a select or favored group.
Remember that tape of W facing a room of Armani, silk, and diamonds at a 2500-a-plate fund raiser. He said: “Some people callya the elite. I callya mu base.”
I have never been a class warrior, not even back in hippie/early punk days (I am that old, yes) But lately? These robber barons…
If they pin the world elitist on Obama, they get a three-fer. The racists hear “uppity” with all its echoes, the middle class hears “He’s just faking caring about us” and Joe Sixpack hears “pus*y”. And that last one is the candidate killer here in the US.
elite
(adj) : of high birth or social position; aristocratic or patrician
(n) : a special group or social class of people which have a superior intellectual, social or economic status as, the elite of society; Someone who is among the best at certain task
As according to ninjawords.com, I wonder what urban dictionary would say? Prolly highly inapropriate. I think that Lady de Rothschild is just scared of Obama.
I’d say I’m an elitist when it comes to reading. Speaking of which, How To Ditch Your Fairy is AWESOME! I LOVED IT!
And, strangest news of all, I had a dream and Justine was in it.
From time to time, I have been called an elitist, most likely because I was educated at an Ivy League school and do not (unlike my President) feel the need to either downplay or dismiss that fact). The wrath that total strangers feel toward me because of where I went to school is a little overwhelming.
Anti-intellectualism is rampant in the US. Somehow, it’s been decried as both “soft” and “upper class” — which is interesting, since the way the upper class was created in this country was by lower and middle class people studying their butts off and becoming inventors, industrialists, etc. Also, anti-intellectualism is popular because if you don’t know something, you can just pretend not to think about it (like the environment).
It’s still fascinating to me how a several-generations spoiled rich boy Yale legacy can be just folks, while the food stamp son of an immigrant raised by a single mother is elitist. But that’s politics.
I’m with those who say that the “elitist” stamp in Obama’s case is code for “uppity.”
*sigh* I am from the deeeeep (read: racist) South, and I am *sick* of hearing people slam Obama for anything other than policies. If you disagree with his stand on public campaign funding or health care, *fine*, but everything else is just superfluous fluff.
I teach high school in an area where there are very few non-white kids. For example, in my last semester of teaching, I taught about 70 white kids, 1 Asian kid, and 3 black kids. Calling Obama elitist makes me sad, just like when the black kids in my honors class are called white wanna-bes just because they aren’t talking in broken slang and actually care about education. I have seen really smart potential-filled black kids in my standard class refuse to step up to a higher level honors class because they don’t want to give the appearance of “acting white” to their few black peers in the school. They identify being black with being dumb, and it breaks my heart.
Of course, this is just a smaller-scale microscopic view of my own community, but when I hear Obama called elitist, all I can think about is how Joe asked me not to tell the class that he made the highest score on his essay because he didn’t want his black friends to make fun of him. Obama’s case may be different, and the situation may be different, but from where I stand, when I hear someone label him as elitist, all I can really hear is a racial slur.
I wish this election could be about politics, not race.
They mean a) he’s smarter than they are and doesn’t hide it; a synonynm for “smartypants.” It’s that peculiar American strain of anti-intellectualism rearing its very ugly head again.
and b) that therefore (and don’t ask me the logic, I don’t follow it) he cannot “relate” to the “man [sic] on the street” and said imaginary man’s everyday concerns.
I’m a college drop-out, but I do not embrace anti-intellectualism. I respect and admire others achievements. My BF is a multiple MFer (snort) and doesn’t look down on me because I lack a degree. She also respects my non-traditional path of self-education in pursuit of my goal to become a published author.
Regardless, I don’t think of Obama or Hillary as elitist. I reserve that judgement for extreme supporters of a candidate that can’t tolerate or intelligently debate an opposing viewpoint. Elitist may not be the correct label, but it reeks of disrespect and lack of compassion for others.
And thank you for not deleting my coffee comment. 😉
Well, I’m elitist because I like my big letters, thank you.
I think in this case she’s using the wrong word. I knew I had the word earlier, but can’t call it to mind. For her her elitism=not a populist.
I like John Stewart’s take on the matter (towards the end, 7:20):
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=166074
“You know, I hear what you’re all saying, but doesn’t elite mean *good*? Is that not something we’re looking for in a president anymore?. [snip] I know ‘elite’ is a bad word in politics, and you wanna go bowling and throw back a few beers, but the job you’re applying for, if you get it and it goes well, they might carve your head into a mountain. If you don’t actually think you’re better than us, then what the f— are you doing? [snip] In fact, not only do I want an elite president, I want someone who’s *embarrassingly* superior to me.”
There’s no point going to the dictionary for the definition of “elitist.” It’s a spin word, used by the same people who call themselves “conservative” but do everything they can to overturn centuries-old fundamental constitutional principles.
What “elitist” really stands for is “from academia.” It is intended to imply a lack of awareness of the needs of ordinary working families. The reason this is being thrown at Obama is that he is a professor of law. As Scalzi pointed out, even a professor of law is far less “elitist” and out of touch with ordinary people than any of those throwing the word at him.
It is also worth saying that “elitism,” even if it did apply, is rather minor on the scale of political sins. Kind of like calling an athlete “arrogant” or a novelist “reclusive.” Sure it would be nice if they were more humble or outgoing, and it might make things easier for their marketing people, but it has very little bearing on what really matters.
If you honestly want to know, the clue is in the “-ist” at the end of the word. Race is fine; but not racist. Elite is fine, but not elitist. Etc.
And like all the other “-isms” of course, merely having the right, erm, credentials (in the case of Mr. Obama) a poor or immigrant background. doesn’t inure one to accusations that this particular “ism” applies to you.
And of course, it can come from either direction. From those in the elite, who run things (the pols, the professional classes, tenured academics, leading journos, captains of industry, etc.) an elitist can be someone who aspires, shamelessly to be One of Us. Think of Frank Burns (M.A.S.H.) or Becky Sharpe for a fair assessment of this (I would call it unfair in the case of Mr. Obama, but I don’t really know)
It can come from those outside, who resent those who rule, who want to rule their lives, telling them what to do because they, naturally, being Of the Elite, know what’s best for the Little People.
And unfortunately for Mr. Obama, any pol who is not an old-fashioned small-government classical liberal fits that bill for the ordinary run of Americans.
Geoff Nunberg on Fresh Air had a pretty good analysis a few months ago:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89940718
If you don’t want to bother listening to it, I’ll just say that he more or less agrees with the interpretation many of you have made, that “elitism” means “thinking you’re better than ordinary people,” where “ordinary people” means “me and my friends.”
By definition, the presidential candidates are all “elite”:
Main Entry: elite
Pronunciation: \?-?l?t, i-, ?-\
Function: noun
Etymology: French élite, from Old French eslite, from feminine of eslit, past participle of eslire to choose, from Latin eligere
Date: 1823
1 a singular or plural in construction : the choice part : cream b singular or plural in construction : the best of a class c singular or plural in construction : the socially superior part of society d: a group of persons who by virtue of position or education exercise much power or influence e: a member of such an elite —usually used in plural
2: a typewriter type providing 12 characters to the linear inch
Doh, see what happens when I respond without reading the previous comments?
Sorry for the repeat opinion.