Claire Berlinski read Charles Murray's op-ed on the New Elites, and turned it into a quiz. Kevin Drum proclaimed the quiz worthy of being a meme, and I agree! So here's the quiz with my results:
1. Can you talk about "Mad Men?" No.
2. Can you talk about the "The Sopranos?" No.
3. Do you know who replaced Bob Barker on "The Price Is Right?" Drew Carey.
4. Have you watched an Oprah show from beginning to end? Yes.
5. Can you hold forth animatedly about yoga? No.
6. How about pilates? No.
7. How about skiing? During the Winter Olympics I can.
8. Mountain biking? I can fake it.
9. Do you know who Jimmie Johnson is? Both of 'em.
10. Does the acronym MMA mean anything to you? Yes.
11. Can you talk about books endlessly? Not only that; I READ books endlessly.
12. Have you ever read a "Left Behind" novel? Nope.
13. How about a Harlequin romance? Yes. I pilfered one of my mother's at the beach one summer.
14. Do you take interesting vacations? I think so.
15. Do you know a great backpacking spot in the Sierra Nevada? No.
16. What about an exquisite B&B overlooking Boothbay Harbor? No.
17. Would you be caught dead in an RV? I have filled the tank, checked the oil and washed the windows of many an RV. So, yes.
18. Would you be caught dead on a cruise ship? I'm not planning on being caught dead anywhere, but I know my time is coming.
19. Have you ever heard of of Branson, Mo? Yes.
20. Have you ever attended a meeting of a Kiwanis Club? No.
21. How about the Rotary Club? No. Does the Optimist Club count?
22. Have you lived for at least a year in a small town? Yes.
23. Have you lived for a year in an urban neighborhood in which most of your neighbors did not have college degrees? No.
24. Have you spent at least a year with a family income less than twice the poverty line? Yes. In fact, that's our situation right now.
25. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian? Yes.
26. Have you ever visited a factory floor? Yes.
27. Have you worked on one? Yeah, baby!
I give myself a score of 6.5 elite answers out of 27. In other words, I am 24% elite, if I did my math right. I'm a regular rube.
Murray's column reports that the Tea Party is darkly warning that a new elite--ignorant about regular folks--has taken over America. But who gets to decide who's elite and who's not? A New York Times poll last spring reported that members of the Tea Party turn out to be more highly educated and wealthier than the average American. Sounds like an elite group to me!
There are elites who actively work to maximize their plutocratic interests and those who don't. I suspect that the former try to hide their rapaciousness from themselves and others with assorted attempts to keep it real (a little MMA or NASCAR watching). And the former accuse the latter of elitism. That's chutzpah.
So, dear Elitist, I absolve you of the obligation to fly down to Talladega this weekend and slum with the rest of us. No need to display your drunken contempt for Kyle Busch by flinging a chicken bone and crushed can of Bud in his general direction. All I ask of you is that you use your outsized financial, cultural and political influence on behalf of us rubes. A progressive tax code, a living wage, universal health care, and no more rich man's wars and poor man's fights. The usual stuff. Those who do such things are by no means out of touch with the rest of us.
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