When they call us "the intellectual elite," it really means

[Bouncy Ball]

"you are smarter than us, more well-read than us, we know it, and we hate you for it."

Guaranteed. I used to bristle at the label, as "elite" or "elitist" could NEVER be used to describe me, someone who really doesn't give a shit what a person's educational or socio-economic level or skin color is.

But now, I shall embrace it. That's right. I AM part of the intellectual elite, especially since the right is acknowledging the fact that I use my brain, I question things, I read a lot and form my own opinions.

It's a compliment, and I say "thank you." Thank you, right wing, for acknowledging that we ARE more intelligent than you. Now get over your inferiority complex, it's really annoying. We have you beat on both brains and heart.

[evlbstrd]

1. Beautiful!

I feel smarter already!

[yella_dawg]

2. I have recently embraced the title myself.

Hell. I can read. I even went to college. I'm one of them country-boy, over-the-hill hippie, "intellectual elite" guys. I may even take up chewing tobacco so I can spit when I say it.

[AWorkerBee]

15. :D

[nankerphelge]

3. Looks like we gots ourselves a reader...

Why does you hate our freedom so much?

[imenja]

4. Elite defined: someone who reads books

This kills me. I'm part of the "elite" because I read and teach at a university. Never mind the fact I drive a beat up 92 Ford Escort, make a very modest salary, and consider eating in a restaurant--any restaurant--a major splurge. But no, I read something besides the Drudge Report and get my news from sources other than FOX news.

You have to hand it to the Republicans. They have subsumed the class issue to one of lifestyle and thought. Corporate CEOs with multi-million or even billion dollar bank accounts are elites. It's the subversive Birkenstock-wearing bookstore crowd that dominates America.

[BuyingThyme]

5. They use the word

elite because they don't want us to use it to describe them.

They call intelligent people elitists in an effort to preempt the class warfare angle.

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Sounds like a great bumper sticker.

"PROUD MEMBER OF THE INTELLECTUAL ELITE"

EDIT: In small print "I vote for my interests, not against them."
"I use my brain"
"I think before I vote"

[reprobate]

10. How about "I'm one of the handicapped, I learned to read."

[lildreamer316]

65. Nah, bumper sticker should read:

"Get over your inferiority complex!"

--ahh, but how well that would go over though...sigh

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tux]

11. OK

You have never held a real job. What is thier definition of a real job?

So its easy for you to come to the assumptions you have, because you have never faced the real world Like seeing poverty in Eastern KY as a kid? Seeing my grandparents die of cancer? Seen my mom deteriote from Parkinson's disease? Made less than $35,000 in the past 5 years due to the "common man" conservatives who is scared by someone who lived and graduated in MI?

[Bouncy Ball]

17. Well, it seems to me a whole hell of a lot of Democrats have

held and do hold real jobs, myself included. My husband included. My whole family included.

Sheesh. :eyes:

[smirkymonkey]

22. Wha???

So, according to you, people who are educated don't work?

[put out]

24. Where to start.

It turns out that many people who think and read, do work very hard at their jobs. And they also live in the real world. Sometimes this real world treats them alright, and sometimes it does not. This is reality. They have seen enough of life to understand these things.

What does "the schooling aspect of society" mean? Oh, yes, I get it now. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for clarifying all of this for me with your hint.

I believe you have played your hand, quite badly.

[distantearlywarning]

29. Proud Member of The Real World...and an "ELITIST"

I often refer to myself this way (jokingly), and I have been puzzled as to why it's supposed to be an insult. I'm proud of being a critical thinker and one of them "book larners". My impression of people who use this term negatively is that they feel inadequate about how they measure up intellectually.

And for the record, before I was a Ph.D. student, I spent over 10 years in the "real world", working as a fast food worker, nanny, convenience store clerk, and secretary (and a bunch of other "non-elitist" type jobs too).

I have lived in the ghetto more than once, and have witnessed robberies and murders. I have been terrified by the gang violence in my neighborhood. I was once in an abusive relationship and nearly became homeless because of it, and I have also spent time on food stamps.

So don't tell me that I don't know anything about the "real world". I know more than I ever wanted to know about the real world. That's why I went back to school.

Ignorance is not a virtue. It's what you do when you don't have the motivation to get off your fat Rethuglican ass and become a real human being (as opposed to a bleating member of the vast sheep herd). I have nothing but contempt for people who are uneducated, trashy, and proud of it. There's no shame in being poor, but there is shame in being ignorant. I am often embarrassed for the "morans" out there. And I am embarrassed that the rest of the world thinks that's what an American is.

[alarimer]

31. All those so-called intellectual elites

Have been dealing with reality their whole lives- just like everybody else. They choose to make their living using their minds rather than their muscles. That does not make them better or worse than people who do. Why is a "real job" (by which I assume you mean a job involving primarily manual labor or possibly a trade) considered to be so "noble" anyway? Most jobs are sheer drudgery much of the time, whether you are a clerk in a video store or digging ditches. There is nothing particularly ennobling about it.

But it is somehow "elitist" to pusue a career that involves using your best talents whatever those may be, especially if they involve more intellectual pursuits. What a crock of shit.

[Bouncy Ball]

37. They seem to call ALL Democrats "intellectual elites" though.

How does that apply to Dems like my husband, who is a high school graduate and hasn't gone to college, who works in a blue-collar industry?

It's weird, isn't it?

[cidliz2004]

56. I never took it to mean anything bad. I always thought of it as a

compliment. It has no negative connotation associated with it. It is all in the interpretation and MY interpretation gives a "thank-you" to the person who used that term describing me. It is better than being referred to as a dumb ass, Right Wing Wacko, Neo Cons...there are so many really BAD nicknames for the Republicans, it shows that even when they want to insult us - they are not intellectually able to come up with a really good slam.

[alarimer]

57. They do

I didn't mean to imply that only college professors are "intellectual elite". I was referring to the other poster (whose message hs a been deleted) who seemed to think that unless you had a "real job" you didn't have to work very hard or deal with the real world.

I think the "intellectual elite" label refers to people who get their information from sources other than fox and Rush Limbaugh. Basically they are not brain-dead like the Republicans.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

42. Right, like growing up as a preacher's kid when preacher were

paid poverty wages, so that we sometimes had to live on Campbell's Soup and Bisquick pancakes for the last couple of days of the month.

Like working assembly on the graveyard shift? Like being a temp worker for three years?

I have a Ph.D., but I certainly wasn't born with it.

[Swamp Rat]

8. Yes, I really appreciate that they ackowledge we are much more

intelligent than they are. Thank you. :)

[solinvictus]

9. "Smarty-pants liberals"

I think that was the preferred Rush term circa 1993. Here's a simple fact: most liberals are well-read and educated, therefore, most well-read and educated people are liberals. Remember the Rove quote on education and economics, something to the effect that the uneducated who are well to do vote Republican while the educated wealthy vote Democrat?

[Biology]

12. and whats ironic....

is that the uneducated receive more benefits and are better off whenever democrats are in charge. They are easily swayed by the dark side rhetoric. Thats why the republicans generally cut education spending down to the bare bone.

[tabasco]

46. That's right.

The corporate elite fight education because they want an easily manipulated populace. Well, they got it. They have millions of people who never consider the source of their information. They take the word of paid propagandists like Limbaugh as the gospel. A basic, decent education teaches you to consider the source of your information. That is too much work for the stupid, lazy people that hang on Rush's every word.

Huge numbers of easily manipulated people is a bad thing. Just ask Germany.

[Bouncy Ball]

18. I can't help it if, the more well-educated a person is, the more likely

they will be to be liberals!

I also can't help it if a lot of uneducated folks with big brains are smart enough to be liberal!

[smirkymonkey]

13. They mean....

someone who posseses reading skills beyond the 2nd grade and dates outside the family.

[bonito]

14. My brother is on the right

And there is nothing I would not do for him.

[Bouncy Ball]

19. I don't get why you said that.

What does that have to do with anything I wrote?

[bonito]

25. now that I look what you said' I apologize

guess I got used to the left and right thing, you're post is right on, since I choose to stay behind, it helps being blinded by the light. lol.

[Bouncy Ball]

27. Since you choose to stay behind? Helps being blinded

by the light?

Huh?

:shrug:

[NAO]

16. It's THEIR term; Them conservatives don't have much use for book learnin..

and such. "Real aMericans" were not impressed by that fancy-pants smooth-talker Kerry.

That phoney Kerry, he only won them debates by usin his high-falutin' book lernin, all French like, but he ain't got good sense like ol Dubbya.

God told Dubbya to strike that Al Kada, and he did, rite in his lair in Iraq. Kerry would still be talkin his long-winded speeches while that Osama Bin Hussain fella was launchin his WMD right at the good ol US of A.

God has trully blessed America by puttin Dubbya as President!

[bonito]

20. It's a nice feeling to be above it all

But for me, I'll stay behind, till every one catches up, thats a better feeling. peace.

[Nevernose]

28. That's the most frightening and accurate post I've read all day n/t

[NAO]

43. Intellektuels is stupit! (GOP logo gif)

[ariellyn]

21. Good post...and the "Draft Republicans" sign is awesome...

You're too damned smart for your own good you know? :D

[kliljedahl]

23. Thinkers Anonymous

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then -- to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true.
Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.
I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunch time so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"
One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."
This gave me a lot to think about.
I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking ..." "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"
"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."
"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"
"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.
"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.
As I sank to the ground, clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.
You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting.
At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed ... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.
Today, I registered to vote Republican


http://www.kliljedahl.net

[lildreamer316]

66. F***in' love it!

BWHAAAAA!:rofl:

[applegrove]

26. No - it is just a tactic to make Liberals seem like the elites. So that

Bush can look like the 'real American' - the regular guy. And they do not want us to associate him with his base - the rich elites.

Those people want to disappear off the face of the earth. And hope for Sales tax so that there will not be a record anywhere of their incomes too.

They don't want their middle & working poor rural base to connect with liberal academics. They do not want their middle & working poor base to know of the existence of the real base (the oil/corporate elites/cabal who decide all of the Bush policies).

It is the same with when the started to make the word "liberal" a bad one because they wanted to get the Democrats to drop it ...so they would be easier to brand as left-wing. Liberal is actually what all Western democracies are (they all have mixed market economies and they are all liberal democracies). The same with Elites. They want that word to mean 'fancy pants Liberal Intellectual Elites'. That way they can make the real enemy.

Believe you me..the neocons do not think that liberal intellectual elites are smart at all. They think liberals are delusional for all their empathy. They feel it is useless - empathy. They think they are the smartest and that everybody else is delusional (and too wrapped up in feelings).

Does the average sociopath put himself above or below their average victim? The Neocons do not thing liberal elites are smart. They want the poor to feel that way. But they think we are fools for our talk about peace and just societies.

[meow2u3]

30. Working definition of "intellectual elite"

Used by Republican and conservative elitists to mask the hatred and envy they hold for Americans who are more intelligent than they want us to be. "Intellectual elites" use the brains God gave them to question the ideas and policies of those in authority and to see through the deceitful, dangerous rhetoric peddled by the monied elite.

[aaronnyc]

32. It has been a brilliant political strategy

Calling us the "intellectual elite" has redefined the meaning of populism. Instead of seeing it in traditional economic terms, it is now seen in cultural terms.

This has allowed Republicans to form an coalition betwen big business and working white class men, which has allowed them to become the majority party in American politics. Republican policies only benefit the business interest half of their coalition, yet, they hide this from the working class portion by declaring Democrats the party of the "elite" (cultural).

While Bush really is an idioit, many neo-cons politicans are extremely educated and extremely well read - yes, they are intellectuals. However, these are often the same people who go on about liberals being "intellectual elites"; this is done to obscure the fact that their policies are the ones which actually benefit the true elites... the economic elites.

[Goathead]

33. Republicans have intellectuals too

They are called Neocons and I have met Republicans that can't stand that label as well.

[OrlandoGator]

34. "They hate us for our intelligence."

I can't believe we live in a Bizarroworld where being a member of the "intellectual elite" is a bad thing.

[gulliver]

35. Just cuz you're smart don't make you the boss of me.

If I wanna do stuff, I damn well wanna do it and you can just shut up! People shouldn't do what you say just cuz you make more sense. They should do what I say becuz, well otherwise I'll get all red faced and pouty.

[Bouncy Ball]

36. I am hoping you meant that to be sarcastic?

[gulliver]

54. Yup. Sarcasm.

Good thread! :hi:

[Blue-Jay]

38. It's a very interesting thing, isn't it?

The Conservatives take some sort of odd pride in their ignorance & stupidity. It's the equivalent of the high school 3rd string linebacker making fun of the kids in the college prep classes. It's jealously, pure & simple, and a deliberate misuse of the English language.

e·lite or é·lite
1. A group or class of persons or a member of such a group or class, enjoying superior intellectual, social, or economic status: “In addition to notions of social equality there was much emphasis on the role of elites and of heroes within them” elite

Limbaugh used to do a radio commercial that included the phrase "People judge you by the words you use".... Great. Every time you say "Democrat" instead of "Democratic" (as in the 'Democrat Party'), you are to be judged as being a dumbass. Every time you misuse the word "elite" in a negative light, you are showing your ignorance.

[The Whiskey Priest]

39. The Elite Are and Always Have Been Oppressors….

It is a pejorative term, and I for one will punch the ticket of anyone who uses the term to describe me.

It is a slight-of-hand trick worthy of Houdini. The use of that term is just a way to deflect attention to a straw man of liberal values and away from the true elites, the upper class.

Never associate with the term elite. It is and forever will be a term of oppression.

[Ron Green]

47. If "elite" means I don't shop at Wal*Mart, don't take anything on TV

seriously, eat healthful food, read books, drive an economical car and pursue an active curiosity about the world, I'll gladly accept the appellation. I don't think there's any shame in working hard for a living (I've done plenty of that), but there's plenty of shame in remaining a stupid consumer in the midst of good information.

Unfortunately, most people are not very smart. It's something that politicians know, but of course will never say. Plato knew this, and knew that the elites must rules the masses, fairly and with their permission.

The question is, which elites shall rule? The DUers and the Noam Chomskys and the Howard Deans and the Dennis Kuciniches? Or the Dick Cheneys and the BFEE?

[Brauherr]

40. I'll be an elitist

From Get Your War On:

I can actually think on my feet, I can string two fuckin' sentences together without notes, and I could answer some motherfuckers' questions about a war without spitting out eleven different permutations of the same goddamn"goo-gah freedom" phrase! So sue me--that makes me elitist? Good! If "elitist" just means"not the dumbest motherfucker in the room," I'll be an elitist!

[newyawker99]

60. Hi Brauherr!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

41. Republicans are the people who were mean to the intellecual students

in school.

By the way, some of the younger DUers may not know that after Spiro Agnew made his famous characterization of Nixon's critics, many Democrats went around wearing buttons that said, "Effete intellectual snob."

[Jade Fox]

44. Yes, we liberal/leftists/whatevers need to be proud.....

There is a huge streak of jealousy hidden in the rise of the Quasi-facist
Right in this country. I've been saying this on DU for awhile: We are not
only smarter, but funnier, more creative, more imaginative, and more
charismatic. It is we who are responsible for music, art, literature, science.
And they hate us for that.

As Salieri said when comparing himself to Mozart, "Mediocrities, I obsolve
you. I am your Patron Saint". He could be Bush speaking to his supporters.

[Spider Jerusalem]

45. "You're one a them THINKERS, aint'cha?"

"Prob'ly READ, too." <spit> "You ain't no REAL Merikan...you was, you'd know them books ain't nothin but LIES the godless librul faggot tree-huggin' perverts is spreadin' to try to DESTROY our godly Jesus-based way o' life." </parody>

Who cares what a bunch of semi-literate, brain-damaged yahoos think, anyway? Anyone who thinks "intellectual" constitutes an INSULT is so stupid as to be beneath contempt. An intellectual is someone who has a brain, and isn't afraid to use it. These people seem to think that the thought process should begin and end in the medulla...simple lizard reflex. Eat! Fuck! Shit! Kill!

And I have no problem with the label "elitist", because I KNOW that I am BETTER than these scumsuckers. WE are better. And we will WIN.

[kayleybeth]

48. Here ya go...

[the antifascist]

49. The Conservative Elite

We need to counteract their terminology as best as we can. They call us "liberal elitists," we strike back that the only true elitist faction in this country is the CONSERVATIVE ELITE. And they are elite in a very negative way as we all know in that they seek to oppress, manipulate, and exercise dominion over the "lesser" Americans and the enemies of this new
"conservative/neo-conservative," extreme right-wing faction of Americans (or at least the Republicans): the liberal elitists. They attack us because they know we are what stands in the way of their domination of the average American; the very apple pie loving, flag waving Americans who the Right is manipulating to support them and keep them in power by appealing to their personal identities and strong moral, and religious beliefs. We need to label and identify the Right as greedy (avarice, a deadly sin), corrupt, prideful (guys like O'Reilly, Hannity, and Limbaugh), and against everything this country stands for as well as the tenets of Christianity that are most relative to and conducive to living a righteous life i.e.: caring for the poor as mentioned in the parable of Lazarus (the beggar, not the man Jesus resurrected) not the arcane references to the condemnation of homosexuality mentioned in the book of Leviticus. We need to use the Bible against them as well as the Constitution and writings and quotes of the Founding Fathers, Theodore Roosevelt, and other great American patriots. We need to show these middle America value voters that if they really want a country with morals, values, and their best interests at heart then they need to vote for the progressives where the true Americans lie, and not for the Conservative elitists. The liberal elite may be elite but at least it's magnanimous unlike the conservative elite which looks to dominate, rob, and corrupt. Evil is on their side, good on ours and we need to convey that as efficiently and quickly as possible. The future of our nation depends on it.---Sic Semper Tyrannis

[newyawker99]

61. Hi the antifascist!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Iterate]

50. Inherently true

Hmmm. The other side is claiming we're smarter than they are. OK, I'll accept that.

But elite? No nothing elite about it, they could read a few thousand books, give an issue some thought, travel, listen, learn to spell. We have no special power or status that isn't inherently democratic.

[WillowTree]

51. Have you ever looked up the dictionary definition of "elitist"?

They don't call us "the intellectual elite", they call us "intellectual elitists", and there's an enormous difference.

ELITE

a. A group or class of persons or a member of such a group or class, enjoying superior intellectual, social, or economic status: “In addition to notions of social equality there was much emphasis on the role of elites and of heroes within them” (Times Literary Supplement). b. The best or most skilled members of a group: the football team's elite.


ELITIST

1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.
2. a. The sense of entitlement enjoyed by such a group or class. b. Control, rule, or domination by such a group or class.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

You're certainly free to wear the "elitist" label proudly, but it's not one that I'd want aimed at me.

And condescending commentary such as post #16 and others on this thread are exquisite examples of why it often works when they use the term against us. They set the traps, and we keep marching right into them. Small wonder why liberalism has an image problem in some sectors when we insist on making their points for them.

[Ron Green]

64. You've made an important distinction here, I believe.

The snobbery that comes with elitism is what leaves the bad taste in the mouths of the "unwashed masses." The simple fact is that most people are not regularly engaged in very much abstract thought, and rely on religion or other simple belief structures for answers to the mysteries of life. I don't think most people resent smart people, but they do resent smart people who "lord it over them," which is what the RW media have been teasing them about for some time now.

The brilliant strategy by the right has been to characterize Government as the instrument by which the "elites" will control the good working people of this country, while disguising the fact that the beloved Free Market is the real means of oppression. Additionally, they have used a very simple idea of morality, reinforced by Free Market evangelist TV preachers, to further drive the wedge between the "elites" and the "good Americans."

As I said in another post, Plato knew that people aren't smart enough to govern themselves directly, and that's still true and always will be. The key question is how to encourage the masses to allow themselves to be governed by good and wise people, rather than greedy ones.

[Jose Diablo]

52. Um no, "the intellectual elite" handle really means

that you are a egotistical stuck-up snob that looks at others, mostly the crude unwashed masses that are less well-off financially as people worthy only of contempt.

The "elitist" name was successfully applied by the ultra right wing side of the conservatives to those elements within the Democratic party that come from the northeast portion of the USA. That portion of the USA is perceived by a vast majority of people in the other portions of the USA (with the exception of California) as the home of a bunch of snooty peckerwoods.

The technique of splitting the Democratic party along the line of working people versus those people considered "intellectuals" worked. This technique was very successful because those so called "intellectuals" in their false pride of thinking they alone are better than the poor unwashed masses truly believe they can go it alone, without the unwashed masses political support.

You can see this disdain by the "intellectuals" for others as they shamelessly posture about NASCAR dads, hunters, guns, fishermen, the evils of unions and how very good it is to support corporate rights over individual rights. Because within the deepest recesses of a "intellectuals" heart is the idea that they do not need anybody else, they are superior, better than any other people because, well they claim to be smarter.

The technique of splitting worked not because the the poor unwashed masses, but because "the intellectual elite" are not really smart, just educated. There is a difference.

Tell someone they are smart and watch them swell with pride at themselves.

We see it right here, on this board. "We don't need the south, they are ignorant slobs". Or "I hate NASCAR, what a dumb thing to like".

I think, and this is for people that believe the handle "the intellectual elite" is a good thing to have, many people do not really understand the real purpose for which that handle was created. For if they really understood what the handle does, reduces their own political power, then they would not like the handle. But some people can be book smart, but actually very dumb in things that matter in the real world, outside some corporate headquarters or college campus or even some rooty-toot food establishment that serves hamburgers that look like baseballs and has ferns hanging in the corners.

[Demit]

53. I think Bouncy understands what the handle is supposed to mean

And everybody else in this thread does as well. Some people are deciding that by laughingly embracing it, they will neutralize the power it is supposed to have. They reject your idea that the handle reduces their power.

Btw, your last sentence is exquisite in its irony. Spoken like a true snob.

[GoldenOldie]

63. The power of a word

This is what the NeoCons have mastered. They can and have taken and combined words "intellectual," a word that is defined as one who studies and ponders or an individual that is engaged in learning and thinking. They then tack on "elite or elitist," a word that is defined as a socially superior or a powerful group.

For known and unknown reasons the majority of the citizens will mentally acknowledge the "elite, elitist," as someone who considers themselves as superior and/or better than them and then ignore or refuse to accept "intellectual," when combined with "elite, elitist."

Lynn Cheney considers herself an intellectual and is associated with an elite powerful group, yet she and her fellow Neocons, use these words to attack any who oppose them knowing full well that their followers will accept the words as attacks for "it's them against us." The Neocons have used Liberal as a synonym for traitor and now their followers have accepted/bought into the idea that anyone that does not agree or conform to the Neocon ideology is a liberal(traitor).

[Nikia]

55. I know what they mean, but they are shifting focus

I identify with intellectual elitists. I was a good student and was taught that education and being smart was a good thing, that the children making fun of me for that were just jealous. I graduated with an A average and scored higher than the 90th percentile on the SAT which I had no test prep for in spite of being one those poor students who got reduced lunches. Yes, to many of the students and even teachers, I was an intellectual elitist.
I got sufficient financial aid to go to a top tier private liberal arts college. The college had a large endowment and I met several other students with big aid packages. The college community was very intellectually oriented, not materially so. I and most other "poor" students did not feel looked down upon for coming from poorer backgrounds. Unfortunately, they looked down upon many of the low wage college employees and people who worked in local stores. As a result, some of these employees thought that we were all snobs.
Now I work in the real world in a food processing plant. The managers are a bunch of "good old boys". Only one plant manager is a 4 year college graduate and none of the production people. I have a technical job, working in quality assurance, and am the only one who does my job and most of them do not understand what I do. They see me as an intellectual elitist even though I try not to be, but I won't be something that I am not either. There is a cultutual divide though, some of which really suprised me.
Regardless of this divide though, intellectuals are not the enemy of the working class. Economic elitists are the enemy. Bush and his friends are economic elitists trying to convince them that intellectual elitists are the enemy and unfortunately succeeding.
I don't know what we can do. I struggle with this issue in my personal life.

[hfojvt]

58. I can take the "intellectual" part

but the elite part means you are in the same income scale as, say, Paul Krugman, and other University professors who are making $75,000+. If his wife is a professor too, then they are at $150,000+ for family income, which puts them in the top 5% in this country. They may speak for and defend the working class, but unlike Eugene V. Debs they are not part "of it".
Come to think of it, even my man Eric Alterman probably talks more about David Brooks than he does about the working class.

[leftofthedial]

59. why do you hate us for our freedumb?

[Gothmog]

62. They have embrassed being dumb

It is sad but these idiots are proud of being idiots. This also explains why they like being lied to.

[MrSandman]

67. It isn't so much an inferiority complex...

But they know that to maintain control of the three branches of gov't the RW cannot rely on its abysmal record. By calling us intellectual elites, they are acknowledging that those who use their brains are (big surprise) not of their ideology while dismissing the need for thought in formulating policy.

Convincing the majority that Progressives are somehow out of touch elitists because we think keeps the RW from needing to defend their record.

What the Nazis did by burning the books, the RW is trying to do by marginalizing the thinking party.