"Elite" the insult, a word that now means its opposite [View all]

[betsuni]

Calling Democrats "out-of-touch liberal elites" really annoys me. Like "establishment," "elites" has become meaningless. I came across a short article from 2010, "'Elite the insult," in the Economist (Obama's election must've revived the popularity of "elite," and you can't turn around without bumping into "liberal elites" these days). Can't they find some new words to change the meaning of and mindlessly repeat over and over for the next election cycle? Political insults used to be quite creative, like the word "mugwump."

"Bleeding heart liberal" used to be a common insult for Democrats. Seems like a compliment today. Things became more and more hateful and nasty until it seemed politics wasn't politics any more but a religious war. I didn't care for the way G.W. Bush used the word "evil," but at least it was directed toward people or countries that were accused of terrorism and the like. When the Democratic candidate in the last election was regularly referred to as evil, that crosses the line of civilized behavior.

I saw a comment somewhere online that I thought was so true, referring to the nasty and hateful: "Their version of empathy is to put yourself in the position of the Other as if the Other were a giant asshole too."

From the article:

"What's the worst thing you can call someone in American politics today? If you read the papers or watch cable news on the wrong day, you just might think it's 'elite.' My 1973 OED describes 'elite' (third sense) as the choice part or flower (of society or any body of persons). If redacted today, the OED might include an obsolescent flag on that 'choice part or flower' definition, and a new sense should be added, 'one's out-of-touch political opponents.' 'Anyone with whom one disagrees, and who is perceived to have an unjustifiably large role in society or politics.'

"Elite's meaning has become remarkably plastic, and in politics in particular, it is a fighting word. How did that happen? ... First, the counterculture attacked the old elites (the titans of industry, the Washington class, the military brass) as out of touch, making authenticity, not authority, the greatest value one can aspire to. Then the counterculture overreached, Nixon found his 'silent majority,' and railed against his own bugbear elites: the now familiar culprits in academia, Hollywood and the press. Both left and right seek the 'real' and shun the 'elites,' and a word has come to mean its opposite; the worst, most harmful class of society, not the 'choicest part or flower.' A strange trip for a word, but these things happen."

http://www.economist.com/johnson/2010/10/27/elite-the-insult