Elitism

[Gustaf]

To me Elitism is rather simply about looking down on those who do not belong to one's own group. It is usually associated with people who are rich and/or highly educated. I have encountered a great deal of it...

[Gustaf]

To me Elitism is rather simply about looking down on those who do not belong to one's own group. It is usually associated with people who are rich and/or highly educated. I have encountered a great deal of it...

We can distinguish between academic elitism (which I see every day, every minute, at work) and social elitism (which I rarely witness).  In my experience academic elitists are more likely to be democrats while social elitists (the few really wealthy people I've met who look down on the impoverished) have generally been republican.  

Statesrights pointed out another form of elitism which I hadn't initially considered, and which seems to cross party lines.  (geopolitical elitism, I think I'd call it.  Europeans look down on third world folks, or Easterners look down on West Coast for sure, or within the east, the two northern regions north of mason and dixon's line, look down on those who hail from south of that line, etc.)  There may also be religion based elitism:  zoroastrians, Mainstream protestants, Jews, Catholics, Mormons, evangelical protestants, Sunni muslim, Shia muslim (Monotheistic groups listed in order of how elitist I perceive them to be.  Anyone know where druze fit in here?  anyone ever met a druze?)

Well, I meet both types in my school.

And I wrote 'rich and/or highly educated' to point out this distinction.

[Gustaf]

"Kerry has many royal connections" said Harold Brooks-Baker, publishing director of Burke's Peerage, a guide to the aristocracy.

Kerry can trace his roots back to the first Massachusetts governor, John Winthrop, to every great family in Boston and to a host of royals in Europe.

"Kerry can almost certainly be traced back to King James I and to the bloodlines straight through the Windsor and Hanover families," Brooks-Baker said

Most Americans of any English background are probably descended from Edward I, and most certainly from William the Conqueror.  And mathematical models predict that every European alive today is a descendant of Charlemagne.  Here's an interesting link:

http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~humphrys/FamTree/Royal/ca.math.html#computer.simulations

Chances are pretty good that every person on the planet is descended from Egyptian royalty.

Anyway, my point is, being descended from royalty is not the big deal people think it is.

There were a lot of people lving in Europe at the same time as Charlemagne...but I guess you mean they would have intertwined by now?

[Gustaf]

I most certainly am NOT descended from royalty!  I am poor white trash and I worked very hard to get where I am.  I bitterly resent the suggestion that I am related to royalty.  The rest of you six billion elitists may be related to royalty, but I am not.  I will assume I am not related to any king or queen unless you can prove otherwise.

Lol...

[Gustaf]

I do not feel that is elitism, Beef. If a court recognizes that a law contravenes the highest laws of our land, and strikes it down, it does not demean the will of the people, it does its constitutional duty. I also believe that hallowing the rights of those disliked, even despised, by the many and securing them beyond the reach of majorities is not elitism. It is the defense of the voiceless and powerless, which shows a humility that is not always appreciated.

Disrespect for the people's ability to rule, like in the EU, is definitely elitism. But restricting the political domain and protecting the minority from being oppressed by the majority most certainly isn't.