Wednesday, October 17, 2007

4229

Use of the word "elite"

Nonfiction Readers Anonymous (a terrific blog by the way) thought it was amusing that Laura Ingraham, a conservative talk show host who has a law degree, has clerked at the Supreme Court and graduated from Dartmouth, would use the word "elite" when writing about agenda-driven liberals who look down on the little guy in fly-over country (her audience). Perhaps she thinks Laura is a member of "the elite." Not according to the dictionary, or the way conservatives use the word.

Here's the meaning of elite, from Webster's 9th:
    the choice part or segment; especially a socially superior group; a powerful minority group, as inside the government;
Today, the elite may be "new money," or "land rich, piss-poor," but they are more likely to be academics who have tenure but not much else, or Congressmen who have been strapped onto the Beltway longer than most voters have been alive, or they may be a spouse of a former President (now making millions), accustomed to a sense of entitlement, or journalists making $40,000 a year and all the turnips they can eat, or former Presidents wandering lost around the world, or fabulously rich entertainers and celebrities who believe their own press, like the Dixie Chicks or Barbra Streisand. Attending Dartmouth and being a lawyer, gets you no points at all, near as I can tell. Nor does writing a few books, even those that get to the best seller list. Nonfictionanon, a librarian, even admits she'd never heard of her.

The word elite has little to do with wealth or where you sat out your 4-6 years of undergrad work. The way conservatives use the word, the elite may have no family pedigree at all, or they may have bunches, like John Kerry a man with a genealogy who married a widow with money. Today's elite are smug, self-appointed divas and web-site owners, some immigrant millionaires or billionaires like Soros and Huffington, or place holders on boards of NGOs who are massaging their guilt because they have so much money, or formerly useful people who have outlived their usefulness.

The elite used to have class; now they are just crass.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But being one of the few journalists(a "minority group", perhaps) to be called to the White House for a chat and photo op (as was done in Fall 2006) certainly would mean "elite" in a lot of people's minds. So would Beltway insiders making MUCH more than $40K such as the "Prince of Darkness". Novak and Ingraham qualify, just as much as Soros and Huffington.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous:
You beat me to the comment. Everything I wanted to say, but better. Also, Norma, would you put Ingraham in the same class (or as a readalike) for Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin? This is just me doing my librarian research; no judgment included.

Norma said...

I have read a little Coulter--don't care for her shrillness at all--gets in the way of whatever message she has. I haven't read Laura yet, but on her radio show, she's less hostile to liberals than a lot of "talkers." I seriously doubt that Ingraham has as much money as Soros, who seems to be richer than God. Unless she's as successful as the Harry Potter author, and I haven't heard that. Don't know who Novak is. I don't know if having a published column qualifies as "a journalist." Columnist, yes. Maybe we're all just playing with words based on our political leanings?