Accusation of Elitism
California is on fire again. So, what else is new?
The 4000-acre Franklin fire in Malibu, CA, is forcing thousands out of their homes. Cher and Dick Van Dyke had to flee from their homes. Physical reality has come a-callin’ to the world of celebrity.
The other news today is the letter signed by 77 Nobel prize laureates urging the senate not to approve the appointment of RFK, Jr, to head the HHS. The presidential transition team reportedly groused that they weren’t about to take any advice from a bunch of elites who were trying to tell Americans “What to do and how to do it” regarding health care.
We have elite service men and women and elite police officers. Sports has its elite athletes. This is all positive and in common usage. But MAGA GOPers use the word ‘elite’ like a switchblade against liberals and the highly credentialed. To presume that you know a thing or two and have some credentials to back it up is considered a form of public indecency to the GOP Know-Nothings.
The accusation of elitism is ironic coming from Trump’s band of sh*tbirds on the transition team. You don’t think they’re a gaggle of elites?
There has always been a genuine reverence out there for people who are ‘down to earth’. It is part of the inherent goodness-of-the-poor trope where simple folk are praised for their perceived moral purity which is unfettered by the temptations of the world at large. Simple, good and decent folk of modest means who go to church and take care of themselves and their neighbors. You know, the rabble. The privileged sometimes feign noblesse oblige, especially if others are watching. There has always been the poor and the hapless people of the world. But given actual opportunity to improve and enrich themselves, many if not most will take it. Being poor all by itself is an exhausting, soul-sucking life.
I’ve known city people and farm people. The Harvard educated and the 8th grade country school graduates and the many in between. I’ve lived in a very large city and a small Iowa farm. In medium cities and small towns. Everywhere you look you’ll find a statistical distribution of saints and sinners. But among them you’ll also find many of those who are bitterly resentful of another’s success or just disappointed in their lot in life. They slave away at go-nowhere jobs all day and then return home to see television programs packed with beautiful and successful people. Or while shopping they will see products that are wildly out of their price range but nonetheless in common usage. The period of life that they could have gotten an education or training and the resulting opportunities are long gone. They’re stuck. If they had a chance at a better life, it has likely passed.
Then along comes a charismatic character who speaks to you. He is a successful billionaire, businessman and reality TV star who speaks of a mismanaged world where the economically oppressed can stick it to the ‘elites’ in Washington who are keeping them down. The reasoning goes like this: If he is a billionaire, real estate mogul and TV star, he must also be able to apply his business skills to govern the US. Success in business is an all-around qualification for government, right? His language is salty and his accusations are often libelous. Conservative evangelical protestant churches all over the country have come out in favor of the guy. Some are convinced he is heaven sent to trigger the second coming of Christ. If pastors are saying it, it must be true, right?
So, the guy gets elected as chief executive of the US government. Then he is selected as Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’. If you recall, the designation isn’t always a valentine to the person and their impressive deeds. Rather, it is a marker representing the large-scale influence the awardee has had. Just like numbers on the number line, influence can have a positive or a negative sign depending on which direction they’ve taken. Despicable characters like Joseph Stalin (1939 & 1942), Adolph Hitler (1938), Ruhollah Khomeini (1979) and Vladimir Putin (2007) have been selected for this award along with many decent people. That Trump and his flock of sheep will take it as a powerful endorsement should not be a surprise.
The accusation of the ‘elite’ status of an educated person is an attempt to slander a person. It is an ad hominem attack. Rhetorically, it is meant to deflect attention from a person’s argument and instead attempt to disqualify the person themselves. At least since Reagan, GOP has long been fond of attacking academics or other recognized experts in a field because they are able to use established facts and logic to back their arguments. To a populist, this is a type of power that academics ‘elites’ can uniquely wave around that must be overcome. So, when up against facts that argue against the populist, they get dirty. This is Courtroom Drama 101, straight out of law school. You try to destroy the credibility of the contradicting expert, or in this case the elite person or their entire field.
Colleges and universities award diplomas to graduates as only a token of achievement. It is an official endorsement of a person’s education and intellectual growth by their institution. It certifies that the graduate has met a list of standards in their field of education. It is not a certification in all around knowledge. A degree is a union card that helps, but does not guarantee, a person gain entry-level admission into their chosen field.
When I do something stupid, my spouse likes to wave the irony flag with great amusement to contrast my chemistry PhD education with my stupid move. I have to point out that the degree is only for a tiny sliver of a very large and esoteric field, mostly meaningless in daily village life. Actually, the degree is less than meaningless overall, given the amount of time (June 1980 to June 1992) spent on a chemical education versus investing in real estate, contributing to a retirement fund, finance, auto mechanics, carpentry, landscaping and many other useful skills. It’s a big trade-off that I took willingly.
There is a very positive side to elitism. In addition to the negatives like cliquishness and snobbery, people who might be called elite have gone beyond the extra mile to acquire expertise in a particular area which has been endorsed by accredited educational institutions. These people get hired by organizations because their expertise is valuable. People who become immunologists and virologists, for instance, are hired and put to work in public health. These people are highly educated and their opinions should be taken seriously. They are not extruded out of a political party apparatus and placed in health agencies with a political agenda. Ideologs think this way because it validates their half-assed arguments. Of course people will evolve political leanings over time, but doesn’t everybody? Why replace people based on educational merit regardless of their politics with people based primarily on their loyalty? This is how fascism soaks into a society.