Is elitism a nice way to say intellectual? Why do we need to dumb down?

[redstatebluegirl]

Personally I don't want to. I live with a ton of anti-intellectuals who are just plain creepy. I understand we shouldn't talk down to people, but I am not crazy about being bullied by people who are intellectual midgets.

I understand the idea but I will not act stupid to win an election. I truly believe there are enough smart people to elect a President in this country, we have just gone silent.

[LonePirate]

1. I agree. There is a difference between talking to someone and talking down to someone.

I talk to everyone the same way. If they don't understand what I am trying to communicate, I will rephrase if they ask. Otherwise I will continue to avoid talking to people who apparently live here n a much different reality than I do.

[guillaumeb]

2. A majority of voters who voted did not pick Trump.

Clinton won nearly 3 million more popular votes.

But yes, many people do not like educated people. Perhaps a latent inferiority complex.

[Blue Shoes]

12. One of the fundemental issues

is that a lot of dumb conservatives demand simplicity in their answers. The problem is that all too frequently life is very complicated.

[guillaumeb]

20. True. A lot on conservtives prefer a very simple narrative.

One where any government money they receive is earned benefits, and government money that goes to others is welfare.

[tblue37]

3. Remember, the main criticism against Adlai Stevenson and Al Gore was

that they were too smart.

[redstatebluegirl]

4. My family knew Mr. Stevenson and I worked for his grandson.

I met his wife and she told me to never apologize for being smart and politically active.

[etherealtruth]

6. It truly makes me want to bang my head (actually their heads) against the wall

Who in their right mind does not want a highly intelligent political leader

[tblue37]

8. Enough US voters to frequently elect imbeciles. nt

[unblock]

14. many people equal smart with evil and dumb with good.

perhaps it's hollywood, where the crime is often something diabolical or sophisticated. especially if the good guy is someone who's simply strong, or has a superpower, and stands up for principle, and wears the white hat.

of course, this is just something they say when it's convenient. if they ever ran an ivy-leaguer while we ran someone who wasn't and really came across as unsophisticated, *then* they'd be talking about credentials and how potus is not the place for on-the-job-training, etc.

[VOX]

5. Intellectuals were among the first to go in 1930s Germany.

A right-wing reactionary ruler doesn't want anyone around who thinks and reflects upon the terrors and atrocities. Intelligence, and an open yet critical mind are dangerous to any totalitarian regime-- Thinkers are immune to right-wing propaganda.

[redstatebluegirl]

7. Good point, but we have to keep pushing back.

[bdamomma]

9. being silent is giving them

consent.


we need to be LOUD!!!!

[spooky3]

10. They have no problem with elite athletes. I've never heard anyone put down

an Olympic medal winner or a star quarterback on the basis of his/her performance and abilities. So why should anyone have to apologize for being smart, savvy, or well-educated?

[Igel]

22. No one does.

But it's always important to remember, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

When you look at somebody who is also an American, smart or dumb, educated or not, (D) or (R), whatever the words may have referred to 230 years ago, they are part of "we the people." Otherwise you're rather implying they're not really "people," which was the cardinal sin made around 230 years ago in limiting those words' referents.

It's an observation that was made 150 years ago when slavery was abolished. It's an argument that was made a hundred years ago when women got the vote. It's an argument that was last year by BLM. Limiting the scope of application of those words is to cede the point to those we've argued against.

It's like the fictitious exchange involving Churchill: Churchill reportedly says to a woman at a party, “Madam, would you sleep with me for 5 million pounds?”
“My goodness, Mr. Churchill. Well, yes, I suppose …”
“Would you sleep with me for five pounds?”
“What? Of course not! What kind of woman do you think I am?!”
“Madam, we’ve already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.”

[spooky3]

23. Hmm...you seem to be reading a lot into my post that was not said.

Hope you are not projecting.

[unblock]

11. no. "elitism" is a dismissive projection.

the real elitists are the people who call themselves the "real americans" in "real america".

it's a way to dismiss liberals.

ostensibly, they're tying liberals to a negative image of ivy league types who may have researched things a lot but are out of touch in their ivory tower. or anyone who would use a word like "ostensibly".

however, they use "elitist" more than just in those occasions. any time they want to goose the martyr complex of those "real americans", they trot out the old "elitist" crap, hey look, those libruls are looking down on you.


you don't have to "dumb it down", but communication is all about reaching your audience. if you're going to lose a big chunk of your audience by using latin or 6-syllable words, then better communication involves ditching those words. but being smart and communicating intelligently is still possible with a vocabulary that connects with the entire audience.

[Trust Buster]

13. I couldn't agree more. I hear Republicans, the media and even some Democrats sneer at the

"East and West coast elite". These so called "elites" were raised all over America, earned advanced degrees and migrated to the this country's centers of banking, health, government, non- profit and media to apply their educational skills. For their efforts, they are labeled snobbish and out of touch. Ignorance now reigns in Trump's America. Bust out the party hats.

[lpbk2713]

15. GW Bush made ignorance acceptable.

He empowered millions of mouth breathers.

[Phoenix61]

16. Yes, and we don't

I find it truly weird that athletes are admired, actors and actresses are admired, musicians are admired but intelligent people somehow or another are different. We recognize they have a gift we don't have and we are ok with that. Intelligence, on the other hand, doesn't seem to work that way. I'm reminded of the childish taunt of "smarty pants." Seems that using the brain you were given to its full extent is not something to be admired but instead something to apologize for.

[LWolf]

17. No.

It's a way to say "K/Clannish tendencies" and "why identity politics is bad for the Democratic Party and the nation."

It's never a good idea to think you're better than those whose verbal skills or formal education aren't equal to yours.

[SubjectiveLife78]

18. Elitism is using a phrase like intellectual midgets

If people want to have conversations with each other, everyone involved, on either side, of any color, of whatever gender, they have to stop insulting each other. Right off the bat, nobody is listening when that happens. Intellectual midgets doesn't help. It just doesn't. It probably feels good to say, but then that's not really intellectual. It's being what you don't like, which is ironic on many levels.

But that's the space between the rock and hard place we're all in. Who stops? It's all there already, so it probably doesn't matter. If you're a Democrat, Republicans will look at you a certain way, before anything else gets said. If you're a Republican, Democrats will look at you a certain way, before anything else gets said. I guess you have to be the change you want to see in the world, or whatever optimistic bullshit we come up with to get through the day, but, there's not much else to do. Except continue to play the insult game that's been going on for, I don't know, since we started making up languages.

It feels good to insult people you disagree with. More so when it comes to deep passionate beliefs. That's certainly true. Especially if they are intellectual midgets. Then you know you're better than they are.

[aikoaiko]

19. In political talk it means people who are out of touch with the masses in some way.

It could be intellectual, or wealth, or power, etc

[MicaelS]

21. Agree 1,000,000 percent. n/t

[JHan]

24. You can be part of the elite without engaging in "elitism"

Elites shape their sphere of influence - they set the tone of any society through their actions (and inaction)

Elitism points to a superiority complex.

I think what you're arguing is for us to value expertise.

One of the best things I ever read on this is by Tom Nichols:

"I fear we are witnessing the “death of expertise”: a Google-fueled, Wikipedia-based, blog-sodden collapse of any division between professionals and laymen, students and teachers, knowers and wonderers – in other words, between those of any achievement in an area and those with none at all. By this, I do not mean the death of actual expertise, the knowledge of specific things that sets some people apart from others in various areas. There will always be doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other specialists in various fields. Rather, what I fear has died is any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live.

What has died is any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live. This is a very bad thing. Yes, it’s true that experts can make mistakes, as disasters from thalidomide to the Challenger explosion tragically remind us. But mostly, experts have a pretty good batting average compared to laymen: doctors, whatever their errors, seem to do better with most illnesses than faith healers or your Aunt Ginny and her special chicken gut poultice. To reject the notion of expertise, and to replace it with a sanctimonious insistence that every person has a right to his or her own opinion, is silly."

[Bradical79]

25. Usually

There are some phony liberal elitists out there, but generally I see it used as an anti-intellectual dog whistle.

[JI7]

26. Does Trump ever hang out on a personal level with his lower income working class supporters ?

the way he hangs out with Kanye and Fabio at his expensive homes in miami and nyc ?