Commentary

Ode to Elitism

Elitism isn't only thoroughly all right and wonderful, it's essential to a healthy and happy society. If you can't see that then you are dumb.

I believe I am better than you.

I'll be damned if that doesn't make me an elitist.

You probably think I should justify myself. And I will; the proles deserve an answer in this case. However, you will find nothing as trite as the Webster's definition of elitism here because, frankly, only a lesser individual would use so hackneyed a device.

First of all, you really must calm down. You are having thoughts of the how-can-he-say-such-a-thing variety while spittle dribbles self-righteously down your chin. Your sphincter has become tight and cold.

You're having this reaction because you are a victim. Yes, a victim of years of American populist dogma of the most insidious type. You have been indoctrinated by that strange anti-aristocratic attitude that pervades our culture; an attitude that causes us to consistently turn a blind eye to the examples of elitism all around us.

You've probably missed the point again. I'm not talking about what first springs to mind, which is most likely the "Old Boys Club" or some such variation on themes of the landed gentry who wield unearned and undeserved power and privilege. When I talk about elitism, I'm not talking about the divine right of kings or your "social betters."

What I'm actually referring to are the plumbers and the architects and the kids who always bust the grade curve in class. I'm willing to wager that for any of the mundane or little-known human pursuits, an elite group can be identified within it.

This is because at its most basic level, elitism is a function of intelligence and talent, of discipline and experience. Elitism in its truest form manifests itself when you take your car to a certain mechanic because he is honest and reliable and always does a good job. You are looking for that combination of integrity and ability that places a particular mechanic among the elite of his profession. When you seek out the best and brightest in any field, you are tacitly endorsing and engaging in elitist behavior.

Now, don't feel guilty. Elitism comes naturally to humans. In fact, it is so native to human thought and action that you can't go anywhere without finding elitism in action. I'm no anthropologist, but I doubt the least talented hunter in the first group of gatherer-hunters had the same amount of influence as the guy who always came back with food. The hunter of great ability, and those with similar skill, made up an elite within the group due to their hunting prowess.

Years apart and thousands of miles away, the stock broker with a complete inability to track a good buy and the most timid manner in attacking is in the same situation: He's got no juice because he just isn't any good.

But these two people, who can't for the life of them close in and make the kill as well as the elite members of their group, aren't just dead weight; they simply have to change focus. Perhaps one is a better builder than a hunter, and the other has a knack for making insider-trading deals look legitimate.

Not only has this sort of meritorious elitism been with us since the beginning, it has, understandably, worked its way into the foundations of social theory laid down by some of the greatest minds of all time.

Plato rests much of the Republic on the broad shoulders of elitism. In his rendition of the perfect society, Plato requires the citizens of the Republic to first spend years apprenticing in various trades to find the one they are best suited to pursue. Only then can the citizen go on to years of training to become a master of that trade. And though there are definite and immutable classes (farmers, laborers, statesmen) they are not bound by heredity. The child of administrators may become a farmer, while the child of shop owners could someday run the country.

Of course, it's all based on ability. The Republic is an entire social structure devoted to creating an elite for every possible endeavor. Exhibited talent is honed through years of ascending ranks, and no one is discarded as useless; a place is found for everyone.

Plato is right to put faith in the basic elitist attitude of the human animal. It's just this attitude that allows those best equipped to function under certain circumstances and perform certain tasks to go ahead and do what they are good at. Such a meritocracy becomes seriously problematic only when we start to believe that the guy who does the best job with a scalpel or a hammer or a contract is also the person who should tell you what to do with the rest of your life, too.

This is, of course, the greatest foible of any form of elitism. The tendency to hero-worship, to assume that just because a person is an authority on international relations, ditch-digging, or sports, they also have something worthwhile to say about domestic policy, fence-building or finances. Unfortunately, this impulse to surrender control also seems to be another ingrained element of the human condition. Sooner or later everybody looks to someone to answer all the questions and make all the decisions, which is exactly where things go all wrong.

It's all wrong because to do this means sacrificing your own claims to the elite. And let's face it, we're all striving to stake that claim and fight off the claim-jumpin' varmints. You wouldn't be here right now, trying to get a little of the ol' higher education, unless you thought this would help you become a success in your chosen field. We are, right now, as University students, part of an elite, and all of us are doing our level-headed best to make it to the next echelon, and the next...

I'm telling you that that is a-ok. It's fine to think you're better than the rest of us; I encourage you to. It's totally acceptable to do the best you can and feel damn good about it. You can even brag about it a little bit. Whatever you do, don't stop trying to be as elite as you can be, because that's when the naughty sort of elite, the kind you thought of when I first mentioned the word, the kind wars have been fought over, will take over.

Let me be your example. Yes, I do think I'm better than you. I don't even have to know you to say that. However, I hope you see the qualification for that statement: It is a given that I have talents and abilities that far outstrip your own. Likewise, there are things you can do that I couldn't hope to compete with. It's just these overlapping strengths and weaknesses that make elitism such a perfectly wonderful thing.

Andrew Oberriter, Editor Emeritus of the Oregon Commentator, usually has much more interesting things to say.