I view it as more of a general lack of intellectual or cultural curiousity. Similar to visiting a foreign country and only eating McDonald’s or referring to sushi as “bait”, never having tried it.
Some comedian said “take a trip down to your local pub. See any Presidents there?”
I would hardly compare Bush’s academic record in the Ivy League to Obama’s.
+1
Neither would I. But you did compare it to Gores. And Bush outperformed him.
You’re absolutely correct - all sides on this need to recognize that “America” encompasses all of this and much more…
Why not mention Bill Clinton a Rhodes scholar, who was elected as governor in middle America several times ?
I have to ask you. Did these companies not contract to pay for these “intellectual suggestions”. Doesn’t that suggest they are willing to listen and pay for it. Just because you are an “intellectual” doesn’t mean your suggestions should be implemented.
I’m not from middle America but I understand anti-intellectualism.I’m not an intellectual. I don’t have the training or maybe even the capacity. To listen to an intellectual pontificate is like listening to someone enamoured with his superior mind. Here in Canada we had someone like that. Pierre Elliot Trudeau. I voted for him each and every time when I came of age, because I liked everthing else about him. I hope for Obama because he’s got a lot of other things going for the world. But they are still both “intellectual elitists”.
To get back to Bill Clinton. No one ever called him an elitist as far as I know. He was never perceived as showing disrespect like what was perceived by Obama’s “clinging to guns and religion” comment. Its not easy to vote for someone who thinks your mentality is fucked up.
Probably about the same as the number of liberals who get all gushy over a candidate because he’s ‘intellectual’ despite the fact that he’s clearly not. Evidently their definition must be ‘Intectectual: (Noun) A person who agrees with my positions’.
Hell, I don’t think Obama even qualifies as an intellectual. His GPA isn’t released, but he didn’t graduate with any of those fancy laude’s, so his GPA was less than 3.3.
But good luck trying to get anybody to admit he’s just a chum like the rest of us.
Yikes, another “people who don’t vote for Obama are dumb” thread.
I love how a statement that erroneously inflates Gore’s academic achievement is turned around as an example of conservative subterfuge.
There is a difference between being elite and being elitist. There is a difference between being educated and being out of touch. It’s not neccessarily a left/right thing. I could name more than few conservatives or libertarians who have this particular problem.
Regardless, it’s the difference between telling people what you think ought to be done and asserting you are smarter/wiser/just plain better. I think the coastal urban elite (which is largely leftist) has slipped into the latter. They have no idea how people in “Middle America” live. They tend to assume we’re all ignorant, uncultured, and quite possibly racist, and frequently seem incapable of even understanding that a very large world lives outside Ney York, Boston, LA, Frisco, and a few outposts of civilization overseas like London. And yeah, it burns.
More or less, that is a horrible definition. Might get your intellectual card pulled for that one.
I’ll try to avoid your over-generalized swipe at all of “middle America”, and concentrate on a few concrete examples:
Many “plain folk” are proud of who they are, and for good reason. There is a stong meme in American culture that the greatest democracy in the world was built not by intellectuals, but by the farmers of the 1700’s, the cowboys of the 1800’s, and the factory workers of the 1900’s. (Like all cultural myths and stereotypes, there is a kernel of truth to this.)
Many non-college educated people distrust the elitist universities because they believe that universities are closed-minded islands of liberalism, where disent is not tolerated. Example:
Yale University proudly hosts an Afghan Taliban, but refuses to let the US Army on campus.
I don’t think it’s a “Middle America” problem, but an “American” problem. From childhood, Americans sneer at nerds, and worship jocks. Americans love anti-reason religion, and fear rationalistic science . We put out movies and TV shows that overwhelmingly feature heroes dumber than the villains.
Personally, I think the power of religion in our culture is the biggest reason for our fear and hate of intelligence and knowledge.
I think you are referring to this.
Well, the Founding Fathers were distinctly the intellectual elite of their day. They seem to have done a good job near as I can tell laying the framework for all that was to follow in this country.
Apart from Political Correctness (which received a well deserved backlash) calling a university and liberals “closed minded” is at direct odds with what universities and liberals are about. Both tend to be FAR more accommodating of divergent viewpoints than any conservative I have ever seen.
Intellectual seems to have a faintly perjorative ring to it these days, being used to describe penseurs who are big on socio-economic commentary, but short on tangible end-product. If you’re talking about pure intellectual firepower, however, a vast amount of American muscle in this area is to be found in mathmatics, science, medicine and engineering. These are archetypal bring-home-the-bacon areas of endeavour; The WWW and digital revolution, a cure for myelogenous leukaemia, monster truck engineering, medical imaging, etc etc; it would seem obvious that any Middle American would have the same appreciation for these monumental advancements as anyone else, and by extension the intellectual achievement that went into their discovery / invention and development.
Even purer academic areas of study, the biochemical origin of life, or fundamental particle physics, say, I would guess as having some sort of currency with middle America. ‘Son, book learnin’s all well an good, but when it comes to quantum physics you just need to go with your gut’ is not something I would expect to hear in the American Heartland.
It’s also worth pointing out from a foreign perspective that Americans are amongst the least cynical people on earth when it comes to personal achievement, and I would guess that the Mythical Middle American of this thread is one of the least cynical Americans. There is a lot of respect for achievement and success* per se *that is lacking in Europe. This may be well wide of the mark, but I see a professor of medieval history being accorded an automatic degree of respect and kudos in Middle America that would not be present in the UK, for example. By respect I’m not talking about bowing down low to the mighty intellect, just a nod of recognition to someone who has gone far and had success on their chosen path.
Nevertheless, it’s the commonly accepted one.
Actually he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law.
I think Bill Clinton, with his laid back Southern charming manner, was very good at not appearing overly intellectual. Gore, on the other hand, does come across as a bit stiff and pompous sometimes. (Which is probably why I assumed he did well in school, **Sinaijon **). So clearly perception can also play a role in whether someone is considered “intellectual”.
I think it’s more the reaction from the staff and worker level people we deal with. Not surprisingly there is a natural “they’re here to make us interview for our own jobs” fear (usually we don’t do that though).
It’s more tangible. Everyone can comprehend a car factory assembling cars. Not everyone understands what a Collaterized Debt Obligation or a Residential Mortgaged Back Security is (probably including many of the people who work with them). If a car factory fails, we understand that they sold shitty cars and no one bought them. When a bank fails, what the heck do we know what happened? As far as we can tell, it’s bunch of stuck up jerks pushing numbers around a spreadsheet. Our money is gone and they are off golfing in the Hamptons.
I may be wrong, but for some reason I always thought back in the 70s and 80s that the Democratic party was more of the party of the working and middle classes (and Liberal elitists) and that the Republic party was the party of stuffy old money types. I mean most of my adult friends who are bankers tend to vote Republican which surprises me that “Main Street” is so supportive of that party.
That’s because he was called an adulterer and a draft dodger and a perjurer. The “elitist” meme hadn’t yet been cooked up as applied to presidential candidates.
He was called a “wonk”, which like “nerd” is an accusation of intellectual elitism.
The big Scots-Irish cultural influence.
Simultaneously one of greatest strengths, and greatest weaknesses.
As one of the relatively few people on either side of my family to finish college, I think I can discuss this from both sides.
Elitists talk nice, real people get things done.
Adlai Stevenson gave great speeches. He had a fantastic wit. Dwight Eisenhower won World War 2.
Elitists don’t care about people.
Bring in some Harvard M.B.A. efficiency expert and the next thing you know, half the staff gets laid off.
Elitists don’t understand the real world.
John F. Kennedy’s strategy in Viet Nam was developed by “Whiz Kid” Robert MacNamara and “the Best and the Brightest” brought into the Departments of State and Defense. This led to Lyndon Johnson’s famous line “I’d feel a hell of a lot better if any of them had ever been elected dog catcher.”
Elitists profit from your misfortune.
Remember Enron and the California energy crisis? Bear Sterns?
Elitists don’t share our values.
Why shouldn’t my kid be allowed to pray in school? Everyone there is a Christian, so it’s not like they’d “offend” some atheist.
Elitists don’t really “work.”
My wife was in education, and I’ve seen time after time tension between the Ph.D and the D.Ed camps. Ph.D types accuse the D.Ed. of getting a doctorate even though they haven’t done any significant research, the D.Ed. responds that the Ph.D. has never taught a class.
Elitists go out of their way to let you know they’re smarter than you.
Did anybody not feel uncomfortable around William F. Buckley?
And just who decided not to follow your suggestions? Not the hourly grunt who works in Accounting. No, it was the same corporate senior managers who authorized spending the money to hire you in the first place. The ones who have been at their jobs for 20 years and worked their way up to management looked at your proposal and said “that’s not the way things work.”
Is this connected to “Don’t call me sir, I work for a living?”