Leftists as Elitists 
Leftism IS elitism.... Conservatives think they can learn from the past. Leftists think no-one can tell them anything

The short essay that inspired this blog is here. More on why elites tend Left here.  
  corner   



HOME

ARCHIVES


BIO


People with elitist attitudes tend Left and so do most of those who are actually in elite positions

An interesting saying:
"Egotism is the brain's way of easing the pain of stupidity"

The foundation essay for this blog is here


MY OTHER SITES

DISSECTING LEFTISM

GREENIE WATCH

TONGUE TIED

GUN WATCH

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS

PC WATCH

FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC

EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL

SOCIALIZED MEDICINE

IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL

MARX & ENGELS

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY

RECIPES

OF INTEREST

OF INTEREST (2)

Of Interest 3

There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here

Mirror for "Dissecting Leftism"
China Mirror for "Dissecting Leftism"
Alt archives
Longer Academic Papers
Johnray links
Academic home page
Academic Backup Page
General Backup
General Backup 2



Selected reading

MONOGRAPH ON LEFTISM

CONSERVATISM AS HERESY

Rightism defined
Leftist Churches
Leftist Racism
Fascism is Leftist
Hitler a socialist
What are Leftists
Psychology of Left
Status Quo?
Leftism is authoritarian
James on Leftism
Irbe on Leftism
Beltt on Leftism

Critiques
Lakoff
Van Hiel
Sidanius
Kruglanski



INTERESTING BLOGS
(My frequent reads are starred)

10 o'clock scholar
11 Day Empire
50th Star
Aaron rants
Abercrombie Chick
About Politics
Acidman
Across Atlantic
Agitator*
Albion's Seedling*
Also Canadian
Always Right
AMCGLTD
American Indian Movement
American Mind
American Outlook
American Thinker
American Realpolitik
Anal Philosopher*
Anthropology & Econ
ASTUTE BLOGGERS
Baby Troll
Bad Eagle
Bearpit
Beautiful Atrocities
Belmont Club*
Betsy's Page
Between Coasts
Bidinotto
Bill Keezer
Bill Quick
Bits blog
Bittersweet
Blackfive
Bleeding Brain
Blissful Knowledge
Blogarama
BLOGGER NEWS
Blogs against Hillary
Blogwise
Blood & Guts
Blowhards
Booker Rising
Brian Leiter scrutinized
Brothers Judd*
Bureaucrash
Camp Katrina
Campus Newspaper Confab
Canadian Comment
Candle in dark
Catallarchy*
Chez Joel
Chomsky demolished
Civilian Gun Self defense
Classical Values
Clayton Cramer*
Colby Cosh
Cold Fury
The Commons
Common-sense & Wonder*
Conjecturer
Conservative Eyes
Conservative Grapevine
Conservative Philosopher
Conservative Pleasure
Conservative Voice
Conservatives Anonymous
Country Store
Critical Mass
Cronaca*
Culture Battles
Curmudgeon
Daly Thoughts
Damian Penny
Dancing Dogs
Danegerus
Declarer
Dean's World
Deinonychus antirrhopus
Democratism
Dhimmi Watch
Dick List
Dick McDonald*
Discover the networks
Discriminations
Dodge Blog
Drink This
Dr Helen
Dr Sanity
Drunkablog
Ed Driscoll
Eddy Rants
Electric Venom
Elephants in Academia
Enter Stage Right
Envirospin
Eugene Undergound
Evangelical Ecologist
Everything I Know
Fighting in the Shade
Fourth Rail
Free Patriot
Free Rain
Free Speech
Frizzen Sparks
Galvin Opinion
Gates of Vienna
Gay and Right
Gay Patriot
Gene Expression*
Ghost of Flea
GM's Corner
One Good Turn
Gold Dog
GOP & The City
GOPUSA Alaska
Grooveswitch
Grumpy Old Sod
Gust of Hot Air
Hall of Record
Happy Carpenter
Hatemongers Quart.
Heretical Ideas
R. Hide MP
Hillary's Village
Hitler's Leftism
Hoosier Review
Horsefeathers
Hugh Hewitt
Illumination Inc
IMAO
Inductivist
Infinitely Prolonged
Instapundit
Interested Participant
Jackson's Junction
Jim Kalb
Junk Food science
Justin C Feng
Just One Minute
Keeping it Simple
Kim Du Toit
Knowledge is Power
Kommentariat
Ladybird Deed
La Shawn
Laudator
Let it bleed
Liberal Wrong
Liberty Cadre
Little Green footballs
Logical Meme
Lost Tooth Soc
Lone Wacko
Lubos Motl
Luskin
R. Mandel
Mangan
Mark Nicodemo
Maverick Philosopher
MedPundit
Miami Review
Michelle Malkin
Midwest by DC
Misanthropyst
Moderate Voice
Moorewatch
More Sense than Money
Moved Truth
Mr Minority
Mrs Blessed
Museum of Left Lunacy
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
National Center
National Security
Neo Con Blogger
Neo Neo-Con
Never Yet Melted
New Media Journal
News Buckit
New Sisyphus
New Victorian
New Zeal Pundit
No Credentials
Norm Quantum Weatherby
Northeastern Intelligence Network
OC Register blog
Orator
Overlawyered
Pakman
Pajama Editors
Parable Man
ParaPundit*
PC Stupidity
Pedestrian Infidel
Pejmanesque
Petrified Truth
Poli Pundit
Political Psychology
Political Theory Review
Pragmatic Libertarian
Prof Bainbridge
Promethean
Proportional Belief
Publius Pundit
Qando
Random Observations
Rand Simberg
Random Jottings
Ravenwood
Raving Atheist
Reagan Baby
Red State
Redwood Dragon
Regions of Mind
Rhodey
Rhymes with Right
Right Faith
Right Nation
Right Reason
Right Spin
Rightwing Troll
Right Thinking
Right Wing news
Roadkill
Ron Hebron
Rottweiler
Sayet Right
SCSU Scholars*
Sean Lafreniere
Seitelplasm
Sharp Blades
Sharp Knife
Should Know
Silflay Hraka
Silent Running
Sine Qua Non
Smallest Minority
Spartac.us
Spelled Sideways
Squander 2
Stephen Frank
Steve Sailer
Stop and Think
Stop the ACLU
Stuart Buck
Talking Head
Tim Worstall
Townhall C-log
Truth Laid Bear
Two-Four Net
Unca Dave
Vdare blog
Verbum Ipsum
Viking Pundit
Vodka Pundit
Voices in Head
Western Standard
Bill Whittle
What If
Whym Rhymer
WICKED THOUGHTS*
Winds of Change
Wizbang
World of Reason
Write Wing Warrior
You Big Mouth
Zero Intelligence



Education Blogs

Early Childhood Education
Education Wonks
EducatioNation
Eduwonk
Homeschool Blogger
Joanne Jacobs*
Marc Miyake*
No 2 Pencil
Weary Teacher



Economics Blogs

Adam Smith
Arnold Kling
Chicago Boyz
Cafe Hayek
Econopundit
Environmental Economics
Environmental Economics & Sust. Devel.
Innocents Abroad
Jane Galt
S. Karlson
D. Luskin
Marginal Revolution
Mises Inst.
Robert Musil
Truck & Barter


Australian Blogs


Tim Blair
A E Brain
Brookes news
The Bunyip
Catallaxy
Chrenkoff
Currency lad
Daily Constitutional
Emotional Rex
Evil Pundit
Kev Gillett
Hissink File
L. Hissink's Crazy World
ICJS*
Little Tin Soldier
M4 Monologues
M Jennings
Mangled Thoughts
Media Dragon
Oz Conservative
Pommygranate
Rational Thoughts
Slattery
Tao of Defiance
Troppo
Voice of Pacific
Wog Blog
WESTERN HEART*
The Yobbo
Bastards Inc
Paul & Carl
It's A Matter of Opinion
Cyclone's Sketchblog
Niner Charlie
Greyice
The Dog Blog
Welcome to the Asylum
Grinder-Com
Chris Berg



England

Blimpish
Blithering Bunny
BNP and Me
Briffa
Britain & America
British Interest
Burning our Money
Campaign Against Political Correctness
Campaign for English Parliament
Conservative Comment
Daily Ablution
England Project
EU Serf
Norm Geras
House of Dumb
IQ & PC
Liberty Cadre
Limbic Nutrition
Majority Rights*
Melanie Phillips
NHS Doctor
Oliver Kamm
Policeman
Mike Power
Right to be Free
Samizdata
Sean Gabb
Natalie Solent
Sterling Times
Walking the Streets
Wayne Smallman
Rich Webster
Englishman's Castle



Scotland

Freedom & Whisky
Highland Warrior
A Place to Stand



Wales

Brit Nats in Wales



Ireland

Conservative Dubliner
Tangled Web



Iceland

Ice & Fire
Great Auk



ISRAEL

Israel Pundit
IsraPundit
Not A Fish
Steven Plaut
Rishon
Think Israel




The Portuguese connection

A Razao das Coisas
Avaliando o mundo
Blasfemias
Blogoesfera Internacional
Boticario de Provincia
De Direita
Direita
Impertinencias
Jaquinzinhos
Nadando contra a mare
Nortadas
O Intermitente
O Reacionario
O Blog do Alex
Portugal Liberal
Super Flumina
Ser Portugues
Tempestade Cerebral
Valete Fratres



Other Europe


Daily Bork
Davids Medienkritik
European Family Health
HispaLibertas
No Pasaran
Le Guerre Civili
Tommy Funebo



AFRICA

Almost Supernatural
Ethiopian Pundit



BIGGIES
Ananova
Beeb
Best of Web
Business Review Weekly
Business Week
Centcom (Iraq)
Courier Mail
Dilby News
Dinkum Oz
Economist
Free Republic
Fin Review
Fortune
Forbes
Front Page
Human events
Intellectual Conservative
International Business Times
Junk Science
National Review
Newsback
Slate
Sydney Morning Harold
Telegraph (London)
Thunderer (London)



Archives:

03/01/2003 - 04/01/2003 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007


Site Feed



Who Links Here

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?
 

Sunday, May 27, 2007

 
Elitist Journalist disses blogs

Sometimes you read something by a member of the MSM that is just so elitist, someone whose arrogance is so amazing, that it is hard to believe it was written by a member of a democratic society.

We MSM watchdogs love to poke our fingers in the eyes of the homogeneously leftist, elitists in the media establishment assailing them for their pervasive assumptions of their own superiority. We don’t often, however, get to see them come right out and say that they truly do think they are better and smarter then the rest of us mere commoners. Usually they are sly enough not to show their arrogance so obviously, leaving it unsaid but broadly hinted at. But, once in a while their egos get the better of them and they let that upturned nose snort just enough at the rest of us to let us know where our “place” in life is.

This is one of those times. Enter the L. A. Times’ Richard Schickel to tell bloggers that they just don’t “bring anything to the party” where it concerns opinion, social criticism and reviews. Schickel is sniffing at all the uneducated, boobs who dare to imagine they have the moral right to write and publish their views on the internet for all interested parties to peruse. How DARE those lowly bloggers encroach on what Shcickel feels is the job of a cultural elite who’s right it obviously is to publish opinion and shape our culture.

In “Not everybody’s a critic”, Schickel’s impertinence about how stupid bloggers, and by extension the common American, really are reaches a height that is just short of Olbermanesque with its shrillness. After relating how the “most grating words” he’s read lately in a newspaper were those praising the plethora of bloggers who review books and post their opinions and social criticisms on the web, Schickel lays it on the line.

Let me put this bluntly, in language even a busy blogger can understand: Criticism — and its humble cousin, reviewing — is not a democratic activity. It is, or should be, an elite enterprise, ideally undertaken by individuals who bring something to the party beyond their hasty, instinctive opinions of a book (or any other cultural object). It is work that requires disciplined taste, historical and theoretical knowledge and a fairly deep sense of the author's (or filmmaker's or painter's) entire body of work, among other qualities.

Amusingly, Schickel goes on to sternly remind us that the “best criticism” is that “conveyed without a judgmental word being spoken”, amusing for the simple fact that our erstwhile critic seems to have cast that good advice to the four winds in his own criticism of the blogosphere. The phrase “physician, heal thyself” comes so immediately to mind

So, in the spirit of Schickel’s admonition not to say any “judgmental words”, I think I’ll let him do a little of it for me. The following will be a listing of some more of the “non-judgmental words” that Schickel unleashes like a shotgun blast at his hated, uneducated internet masses:

* Most reviewing, whether written for print or the blogosphere, is hack work…

* Your publisher kindly forwards the clippings, and you are appalled by the sheer uselessness of their spray-painted opinions.

* I do think, however, that a simple "love" of reading (or movie-going or whatever) is an insufficient qualification for the job.

* Inevitably, blogging was presented as an attractive alternative — it doesn't take much time, and it is a method of publicly expressing oneself (like finger-painting, I thought to myself, but never mind).

How simply nonjudgmental of you, Mr. Schickel. Bravo. Our cultural snob also decries the unseemly “democratic” nature of the internet a place where every “car parts” employee can write a review.

…a purely "democratic literary landscape" is truly a wasteland, without standards, without maps, without oases of intelligence or delight.

Gosh, we is all juss so stoopit. And now let us see what our kindly Mr. Schickel imagines might be the importance of his own handiwork:

The act of writing for print, with its implication of permanence, concentrates the mind most wonderfully. It imposes on writer and reader a sense of responsibility that mere yammering does not. It is the difference between cocktail-party chat and logically reasoned discourse that sits still on a page, inviting serious engagement.

I just love it when these people imagine only their work rises to the level of “logically reasoned discourse” and only their efforts rate “inviting serious engagement”. All I can say is that we Americans cast off the idea of the divine right of Kings and the controlling, elite classes that accompanies a Royal Court several hundred years ago. Unfortunately, there is a class of American who imagines that they sit above the floatsam and jetsam of their fellows, a class of cultural elitists who feel they have a divine right to guide the lower classes by the nose for their own good, a right born not of any royal lineage but one spawned instead from their own self-proclaimed superior intelligence.

And we nit wit bloggers should just shut up and let them tell us what to think. Not that I will be inclined to “convey” any “judgmental word” for Mr. Schickel’s beau ideal for cultural criticism. After all, it would be wonderful if I, too, could be considered a member of the superior classes.

Source





This page is powered by Blogger.