What exactly is an elitist?

[aneeshm]

I've been hearing this term being bandied about a lot recently, generally with reference to the US presidential elections, and specifically with reference to Barack Obama.

My question here is: what exactly is an elitist? What is your test for someone being an elitist?

I'd request everyone to keep the US election out of this. Imagine that you were asked this question ten years back, or some other time when this was not such a political issue. If you had to give a general answer, what would you say?

[SlowwHand]

Someone who thinks their **** doesn't stink.

[Aeson]

It's someone who isn't tolerant of script kiddies.

[DaShi]

Hindu nationalists.

[Perfection]

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[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Perfection
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is banned again?

[Perfection]

No, professor poopface posted this thread in CFC, I figured I'd spam it's Apolyton counterpart too.

[Riesstiu IV]

People who don't live in a trailer park and think Larry the Cable Guy is funny.

[Maniac]

I guess the word can be used in different ways.

One interpretation could be that an elitist thinks the existence of an elite is good for society.

Another interpretation could be that an elitist thinks that the elite is somehow "inherently" better than the masses. In this case an elitist would look down upon the masses.

[SlowwHand]

I see. Not satisfied with a random sampling.

[Asher]

Ask Gepap

[Lancer]

"What exactly is an elitist?"

Those of us who are unwilling to do laps in a gay bath house because there are just too many swimmers in the pool.

[Pekka]

Aeson, nah, it's not elitist to be elite

Well I think an eltist would be someone who has no grasp of the reality normal people live in. A privileged person who then thinks he is better and the people below him are just losers or lazy, because they aren't doing the same things he did, not realizing he was privileged to begin with, and thus looks down upon those who aren't like him. I think that's an elitist. Or an *******. Take your pick.

[DrSpike]

Re: What exactly is an elitist?

I know but I'm not going to tell the likes of you.

[SpencerH]

I was skim reading an article about an Ivy League professor (in English I think) who was commenting on the attitudes of the ivory-tower types (including himself). He was struck by the realization that he could not "chat" with the plumber who was standing in his kitchen while fixing some problem. Apparently, he felt that they had nothing in common.

A collegue of mine here in NJ tells the story about his professor at Columbia who had visited a Taco Bell with his kid as if he was entering a martian colony.

I see these burks every single day. They think they know "the answers" and given the opportunity, they will dictate that everyone live according to their (false) opinions.

Thats elitism.