American Counter-Elitism
By Daniel Miessler on September 10th, 2008: Tagged as Culture | Education
I really like Bill Maher because he has no allegiance to anyone. He destroys the democrats nearly as often as he does the republicans. Here’s one of the finest articulations of a problem I’ve ever seen from him:
Obama can’t help it if he’s a Harvard grad and you’re a Wal-Mart shopper. Americans are so narcissistic that our candidates have to be just like us. That’s why Bush is president.
I agree. The fear of intelligent people is rampant among the mundane, and it’s a serious problem because they get to vote (if they remember to register between reality shows).
They don’t seem to realize that you want exceptional people to lead. It’s not always true, but in general great people do great things. Einstein was smart. Lincoln was extremely gifted. Ghandi and MLK were courageous. Jesus was the son of God.
Clearly you don’t want just anyone leading you.
As such, it’s pretty lame to bristle at Obama being über-educated and intelligent—as if it’s a problem. Especially when he’s obviously the more accessible and “common” person in terms of connection to the people.