Using The Word "Elitist" Is Elitist

[DaveT]

I grew up in Dallas, Texas and I have worked as a union organizer in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. I have known literally thousands of factory workers and their family members in small towns like Ottumwa, Iowa; Fremont, Nebraska; and Gramercy, Louisiana.

My sister lives in Parsons, Kansas and I have a ton of other relatives who live in small towns.

Maybe you have had differing experiences with blue collar people from rural America, but I can guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of my acquaintances from this demographic swath of America do not use the term "elitist" to describe anything. Moreover, the concept that Hillary Rodham Clinton is currrently trying to discredit Obama with is about as foreign to Small Town America as Quiche Lorraine, escargots and $22 per glass Chardonnay.

The idea is that Obama looks "down" on people because he suggests that they are bitter about national politics -- and that he is somehow dismissive of their faith and ideas because he sees them as less significant reasons to vote than economic concerns. That is just preposterous and virtually nobody I have known in either rural or urban America would ever even conceive of reacting to Obama's comments that way.

This entire attack is a species of Political Correctness -- a fundamentally elitist and effete bit of literary criticism that decries the attitude and tone offered up by Obama, rather than any serious effort to disagree with the substance of Obama's political presentation.

Of course it is a desperate effort to conjure up a "gotcha" out of thin air and it will be forgotten in a few days, but I find it ironic in the extreme that she is projecting onto Obama a perfect description of herself -- perfectly crystalized in her choice of the word, "elitist."

And they say that irony is dead.



By the way, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an elitist.

[Symarip]

1. Watch out, Dave

You'll be dead to them soon.

[keep_it_real]

2. Hillary projects her faults onto Obama to try to purge herself of her faults

[JuniperLea]

3. You speak for so many! Are they aware of this?

And do they all confuse elitist with wealthy?

Peter A. Sturgeon was considered an elitist by some, and I think this is the most pure example because it has nothing to do with money.

Not all truths should be said out loud... this was Obama's error. He should have known better.

[DaveT]

4. I speak only for myself

and I report what I have experienced. I conceded and concede that others may have a different experience. But yeah, in thousands and thousands of conversations with people from rural areas, I cannot recall anybody ever using the term "elitist" or anything at all similar to what HRC is trying to attack Obama with.

I have heard people complain about "city" people talking down to "country" people. I have heard people express resentment against big city attitudes. A classic example of this concept would be Hillary's rap about how "elitist" Obama is.


What "truth" did Obama utter that was an error because some truths should not be told?



Btw, who is Peter Sturgeon? The hockey player?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sturgeon

[JuniperLea]

5. Different vocabulary... but I'm betting they all have words that mean...

Elitist, or uppity, or condescending, or arrogant, or snobbish...

I think that Obama may be right about the bitterness. However, since when is it appropriate to say things just because they are true? "Hello Aunt Trudie! My but you are looking ugly today! That sweater is atrocious! You should really do something about that breath!"

I'm bitter as hell over being scammed far too often, but I don't clutch at religion or guns. It is really condescending to say such things. I've heard it said many times that religion is the knot at the end of the rope for so many people, and that very well may be true, but you don't go around saying "in your weakness you are clinging to your religion," especially to those from whom you expect a vote cast in your favor!

Many people do find comfort in religion, and when that doesn't work and the fear sets in, I'm betting they turn to their guns for comfort.

"Please vote for me, you silly little brainless fucks who can't manage in this life without clinging to the imaginary bearded cloud being and the guns he created."

Obama should have known better. This is a judgment call... he clearly failed the test.


Peter Sturgeon... Founder of American Mensa. I didn't even know there was a hockey player by the same name! Silly puckers both, methinks.

[DaveT]

7. Known better?

Obama should have known better. This is a judgment call... he clearly failed the test.

I sincerely appreciate your civil tone in contrast to all the nasty flaming going on. That said, I think that this characterization of what Obama said is totally bogus.

He said nothing of the kind. Not remotely like that.

And my point about ironic elitism applies to your twisted formulation even more so. To claim that what Obama said was true, but that he was somehow mistaken because people can't handle the truth -- THAT is elitism.

To recognize that people in the red states have reasons for their economically counterproductive voting habits is the only way that Democrats can ever regain a national majority. To impute some contemptuous attitude to him is simply wrong. But so much worse, this notion that we dare not talk about why red states are red for fear of offending somebody is a self defeating strategy, sadly typical of the effete liberal stereotype that Hillary embodies while so ironically trying to project it onto Obama.

[JuniperLea]

10. I think you should read again... eom

[dchill]

6. In my neck o' the woods...

we say "stuck up."
;)

[Viking12]

8. "Elitist" is RW code used by anti-intellectualists

...and this notion that we shouldn't have elite people for leaders baffles me.

[McCamy Taylor]

9. This is true. People mostly don't talk about it when someone calls them "po white trash"

Even if they use euphemisms.

[DaveT]

11. who used that term?

Or did you just make it up?

This is getting really weird/