How Elite are You?
Charles Murray's piece in the Washington Post today argues that yes, of course there's a new elite, and yes, of course they're totally out-of-touch. He describes the new elite in some detail. I was surprised to discover that apparently I'm half-plebe, despite having been sure that if anyone qualified as "elite," it was me:
With geographical clustering goes cultural clustering. Get into a conversation about television with members of the New Elite, and they can probably talk about a few trendy shows -- "Mad Men" now, "The Sopranos" a few years ago. But they haven't any idea who replaced Bob Barker on "The Price Is Right." They know who Oprah is, but they've never watched one of her shows from beginning to end.
Talk to them about sports, and you may get an animated discussion of yoga, pilates, skiing or mountain biking, but they are unlikely to know who Jimmie Johnson is (the really famous Jimmie Johnson, not the former Dallas Cowboys coach), and the acronym MMA means nothing to them.
They can talk about books endlessly, but they've never read a "Left Behind" novel (65 million copies sold) or a Harlequin romance (part of a genre with a core readership of 29 million Americans).
They take interesting vacations and can tell you all about a great backpacking spot in the Sierra Nevada or an exquisite B&B overlooking Boothbay Harbor, but they wouldn't be caught dead in an RV or on a cruise ship (unless it was a small one going to the Galapagos). They have never heard of Branson, Mo.
There so many quintessentially American things that few members of the New Elite have experienced. They probably haven't ever attended a meeting of a Kiwanis Club or Rotary Club, or lived for at least a year in a small town (college doesn't count) or in an urban neighborhood in which most of their neighbors did not have college degrees (gentrifying neighborhoods don't count). They are unlikely to have spent at least a year with a family income less than twice the poverty line (graduate school doesn't count) or to have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian. They are unlikely to have even visited a factory floor, let alone worked on one.
So, let's translate this into a "How Plebe are You?" quiz. I'll go first:
1. Can you talk about "Mad Men?" No.
2. Can you talk about the "The Sopranos?" In great detail.
3. Do you know who replaced Bob Barker on "The Price Is Right?" No clue.
4. Have you watched an Oprah show from beginning to end? Yes.
5. Can you hold forth animatedly about yoga? Yes.
5. How about pilates? No way, that's boring.
5. How about skiing? Nope.
6. Mountain biking? I've never been near a mountain bike in my life.
7. Do you know who Jimmie Johnson is? No idea.
8. Does the acronym MMA mean nothing to you? Are you serious? Where do you think I am when I'm not on Ricochet?
9. Can you talk about books endlessly? Sure, that's why they pay me the big bucks.
10. Have you ever read a "Left Behind" novel? No, but frankly, I've never read most of the books I talk about. Let's keep that between us, though.
11. How about a Harlequin romance? Yes! I have! Start to finish!
12. Do you take interesting vacations? I'll say.
13. Do you know a great backpacking spot in the Sierra Nevada? Nope.
14. What about an exquisite B&B overlooking Boothbay Harbor? Where's that?
15. Would you be caught dead in an RV? I've been caught alive in one.
16. Would you be caught dead on a cruise ship? I can't afford to go on a cruise ship.
17. Have you ever heard of of Branson, Mo? Yes, but is there something I should know about it?
18. Have you ever attended a meeting of a Kiwanis Club? No.
19. How about the Rotary Club? Yes, many.
20. Have you lived for at least a year in a small town? What's the cutoff for "small?"
21. Have you lived for a year in an urban neighborhood in which most of your neighbors did not have college degrees? I'd be surprised if any of my neighbors did.
22. Have you spent at least a year with a family income less than twice the poverty line? No.
23. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian? Yes.
24. Have you ever visited a factory floor? Yes.
25. Have you worked on one? No.
I really don't know what to conclude from this. Murray suggests that the people who do poorly on this test are "isolated and ignorant." Phew, I'm glad I did okay!
Who here's more plebe than me? Pat, I bet you aced that Price is Right question. James, you're totally suspect, you know way too much about "Mad Men."
Dave Carter's going to stumble on the Harlequin Romances, I predict, proving that he's a secret elitist.
| > |
More From Claire Berlinski:
Turkey and the Use of the Word "Elite"
- Comment (101)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (3)
Comments:
Aug '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Whew ! I am busily charting the responses, the results are a bell curve that would curl Quasimodo's spine, so to speak.
Re: How Elite are You?
Pseudodionysius
Um, tut, tut. The Ricochet Code of Conduct clearly frowns upon all caps as boorish. · Oct 25 at 12:32pm
Given those are ironic all-caps, I wonder if the irony transmutes them from boorish to arch, and therefore acceptable? Clearly among decadent, post-modern élites, we are.
Jul '10
Re: How Elite are You?
EJHill: Never watched Mad Men or the Sopranos. Yoga Bear? Pilates of the Caribbean?
Claire Berlinski doesn't know who Drew Carey is? Or the man who's about to kill NASCAR by winning his 5th straight championship? Good lord, is there no culture in Turkey? · Oct 25 at 5:38am
is Jimmy Johnson related to Junior Johnson??
May '10
Re: How Elite are You?
No. Junior is a North Carolina boy (and an Obama guy), Jimmie is pure California and was a McCain supporter.
May '10
Re: How Elite are You?
EJHill
No. Junior is a North Carolina boy (and an Obama guy), Jimmie is pure California and was a McCain supporter. · Oct 25 at 1:37pm
You've created a monster EJ -- now I want to see Peter dressed in NASCAR gear and Lileks in the Octagon!
May '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
"All that fancy education, the Suzuki lessons when I was a kid, the tickets to see the RIng Cycle, all that Brideshead Revisited stuff I went through in school"--only to find out I might after all that be a prole? · Oct 25 at 12:40pm
For the rest of the day I'll have to tell people -- "it's too difficult to explain," when they ask why I keep chuckling...
Oct '10
Re: How Elite are You?
I love the test...but I need to know how to score it. We numbers-people (CPA) need quantifiable stuff, especially since I have a feeling I'd score wayyyy down on the elitist list. I just need to be able to prove it.
Aug '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Easy scoring method. If you don't care what your score is, you are an elitist !
Oct '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Here are my answers:
1. No.
2. No.
3. Drew Carey. But I haven't watched this show in nearly twenty years.
4. No.
5. No.
5. No.
5. No.
6. No.
7. Former head coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes, Dallas Cowboys, and Miami Dolphins?
8. I know what MMA is, but have only watched it once.
9. Yes I can!
10. No.
11. No.
12. Yes, but not as often as I'd like.
13. No.
14. What?
15. Sure, why not?
16. Like Claire, I can't afford to do so.
17. Yes, it's where old country music singers pend their golden years.
18. No.
19. No.
20. Like Claire, I too must ask what's the cutoff for "small?"
21. No.
22. No.
23. No.
24. Yes.
25. No.
I reckon that makes me a plebe! But so does that fact that I'm a ninth-generation Texan, an NRA Life Member...
Edited on October 26, 2010 at 1:10amMay '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Paul DeRocco
There's nothing wrong with calling someone a racist if it's both true and relevant. And there's nothing wrong with calling someone an elitist if it's both true and relevant....
Well, natch.
But often each term is used to dismiss an argument rather than deal with its merits (Respectively: Carter in dismissing the Tea Partiers, Limbaugh in dismissing those who had misgivings with O'Donnell).
Jul '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Scott Reusser
Paul DeRocco
There's nothing wrong with calling someone a racist if it's both true and relevant. And there's nothing wrong with calling someone an elitist if it's both true and relevant....
Well, natch.
But often each term is used to dismiss an argument rather than deal with its merits (Respectively: Carter in dismissing the Tea Partiers, Limbaugh in dismissing those who had misgivings with O'Donnell). · Oct 25 at 3:30pm
But it was germane to Rush's argument about those who had misgivings with O'Donnell.
Your comparison doesn't hold.
May '10
Re: How Elite are You?
1. "Mad Men?" Most about the 1st 3 seasons.
2. "The Sopranos?" Not a bit.
3. Price is Right? Drew Carey. He looks very healthy and fit, BTW!
4. Oprah? Yes, sadly. An hour of my life I can't get back.
5. yoga? Not animatedly, pole acrobatics, on the other hand...
pilates? A bit.
5. Skiing? Yeah. It's been way too long, though.
6. Mountain biking? Teeny bit.
7. Jimmy Johnson? Nope.
8. MMA? Huh?
9. Talk about books? Oh yeah.
10. Left Behind? Yes, sadly. Very disappointing.
11. Harlequin books? Quite a few. My mom had an amazing collection.
12. Interesting vacations? Yep.
13. Sierras? Yeah. But it's probably gone now, it was so long ago.
14. Boothbay Harbor? Que?
15. RV? It sounds interesting.
16. Cruise ship? Been there, done that.
17. I've been to Branson before it was a destination.
18. Kiwanis? No.
19. Rotary Club? Yes, but only as a performer.
20. small town? Yes, my year in hell.
21. neighbors lacked college degrees? Yeah. It was called college.
22. poverty line? How about most of my childhood?
23. evangelical Christian? Yes.
24. factory floor? Yes.
25. worked @ factory? No.
May '10
Re: How Elite are You?
In the cool column.
May '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Pole gymnastics, Felicia? Tut-tut. I'm marking that down in my notepad of future in-jokes. Not sure how to sneak it past Argus "Claire Berlinski" Filch, though.
May '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Yes, 3 years and counting! And I'm very sore after a particularly strenuous workout this morning. I think the instructor was trying to kill me.
Sep '10
Re: How Elite are You?
FeliciaB
Yes, 3 years and counting! And I'm very sore after a particularly strenuous workout this morning. I think the instructor was trying to kill me. · Oct 25 at 5:23pm
FeliciaB, I am very disappointed in you. I had you figured for more of a Russian Kettlebell gal.
Jul '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Well my results were mixed.
For instance, I'd heard of both Jimmies. Yay, real American!
But I was absolutely certain the football one was the really famous one. Boo, cloistered poseur!
Next up, I have worked in a factory. Yay, man of the people!
But it was my uncle's factory. Boo, scion of privilege!
Finally, I live in a neighborhood where I'm not sure 50% of my neighbors have jobs, let alone BAs. Yay, Captain Mingler!
But once I'm outta here I'll have zero desire to return. Boo, wannabe bubble boy!
May '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Pseudodionysius
FeliciaB
Yes, 3 years and counting! And I'm very sore after a particularly strenuous workout this morning. I think the instructor was trying to kill me. · Oct 25 at 5:23pm
FeliciaB, I am very disappointed in you. I had you figured for more of a Russian Kettlebell gal. · Oct 25 at 5:39pm
Good lord! I had to look up Russian Kettleball and found this video. I think I'll stick to the aerial thrashing instead of the hernia inducing kind.
May '10
Re: How Elite are You?
Michael Tee
Scott Reusser
Paul DeRocco
There's nothing wrong with calling someone a racist if it's both true and relevant. And there's nothing wrong with calling someone an elitist if it's both true and relevant....
Well, natch.
But often each term is used to dismiss an argument rather than deal with its merits (Respectively: Carter in dismissing the Tea Partiers, Limbaugh in dismissing those who had misgivings with O'Donnell). · Oct 25 at 3:30pm
But it was germane to Rush's argument about those who had misgivings with O'Donnell.
Your comparison doesn't hold. · Oct 25 at 4:54pm
Except there were many non-elitists who shared those misgivings, which would indicate that, for many, their concerns were not caused by elitism, but by reason. Rush's failure to acknowledge this possibility was an obvious dodge.
But he would be wise to continue dodging, since events have proved his position to be indefensible on its merits.
Sep '10
Re: How Elite are You?
FeliciaB, I am very disappointed in you. I had you figured for more of a Russian Kettlebell gal. · Oct 25 at 5:39pm
There is another negative elite question; -1 if you know what they are, -2 if you actually workout with them. Hard as I went this evening I might have try to read Tristram Shandy again just crawl half way back.