In defense of elitism
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- September
- 22
Sam Harris has written a column for “Newsweek”:http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080/page/1 in which he rips Gov. Sarah Palin.
He doesn’t like her candidacy for many reasons; here is one area I agree with him completely: elitism.
A key paragraph:
“Ask yourself: how has “elitism” become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth—in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn’t seem too intelligent or well educated.”
This entry was posted
on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 4:56 pm by Noreen O'Donnell.
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