Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things."
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
@Daojoan If knowledge is power, most of us on mastodon must be at least demigods.
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
Just means thinking for yourself using facts instead of following the herd based on emotion …
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
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@mrundkvist @DP0 @Daojoan It's the worst idea, except for all the others that have been tried.
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@Daojoan what it really means is „has access to methods of thinking that not all people have but which are seen as mandatory for being heard and being able to speak politically“. And that is a real cause that unfortunately mostly terrible people really for. Other people do not really rally for it because it is an uncomfortable truth that one actually needs that method and that we indeed exclude people who can’t use it and that there is no good answer that could make them feel actually able to participate instead of just technically able to participate but without any chance of being heard.
@nicolai Apart from a severeintellectual disability, what can block someone access to certain methods of thinking in year 2026?
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
@Daojoan There was a cartoon of an eagle tearing apart a book with the caption “Reading is for f******”.
I’m somewhat sure it was intended as a dark parody and cultural commentary, but a terrifying number of people I’ve run into actually do feel that way.
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@Daojoan It's not elitist to go to university. It's elitist to believe the only way you can prove you are smart or educated is to give tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a piece of paper with your name on it. Our entire labor market and social culture is based on that notion. And like, I think the viewing of Trump as a man of the people is dumb, too...but this post is dangerously close to equating poor with dumb. And I think that's probably what people are referring to.
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
Populism always maintains the "elite" as the enemy. It is also frequently used as a tool of authoritarians. And under authoritarian-populism, those with power and money are never the enemy: those with knowledge and the capability to share it are.
The good news is that they fear what can undo them. We don't need money and power to end this madness: we only need knowledge, and the courage to share it freely.
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
@Daojoan Is that because everyone is striving to have a gold toilet?
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
@Daojoan
Elitist = Epstein Class -
Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
@Daojoan There's always been a strong anti-intellectual element in our society, that much is not new. But yeah, lately it seems that knob has been cranked to 11.
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
Sounds like a Republican trend
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@Daojoan Is that because everyone is striving to have a gold toilet?
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@mrundkvist @Daojoan No, I am just saying that everyone can be fooled. Believing that this is not the case is dangerous.
Of course, education helps building up resilience against disinformation. And, indeed, some people are more resilient to disinformation than others. However, everyone has their soft spot, a weakness or just an area where they're not so proficient. And one should bei aware of that as this also is an expression of a free, open, and resilient mind: know your weakness.
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
@Daojoan Agree, but the cultural elite has always been the thing that money could not buy entry into (except after a generation or two)… so I am not sure this is really new.
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@theothersimo @Daojoan I don't think it was her intent. But I do think equating going to college with knowing things perpetuates a class divide and permeates the culture with an idea that poor people, or people who can't leave home, or need to work full time are stupid. I went to college. Plenty of idiots who never learned anything or had one moment of critical thinking graduated. And yet it's the way we assess who is worthy of a job that requires thinking. I'm happy to point it out.
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
@Daojoan This was a trope during Obama: the purposeful conflation of elitist with elite. We want elite.
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Love how "elitist" now just means "has the audacity to know things." Went to university? Elitist. Read a book? Elitist. Can point to a country on a map? Elitist. Meanwhile a man with a gold toilet is a man of the people.
@Daojoan Anti-intellectualism is a deep historical root in Western culture. I am in education in Canada where education is the only profession that is treated like anyone can do it
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@nicolai Apart from a severeintellectual disability, what can block someone access to certain methods of thinking in year 2026?
@Oytis even for people without any learning disabilities they are not easy to master and someone needs to be willing to invest many many hours into teaching them to you. It takes years.
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@Daojoan It's not elitist to go to university. It's elitist to believe the only way you can prove you are smart or educated is to give tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a piece of paper with your name on it. Our entire labor market and social culture is based on that notion. And like, I think the viewing of Trump as a man of the people is dumb, too...but this post is dangerously close to equating poor with dumb. And I think that's probably what people are referring to.
@smutmag @Daojoan Interesting angle re: money.
Wondering whether the US academic system has sth to do with the view of them being elitist. You need money to become educated.Here in Germany, college and university are free (though there are class threshholds obv).
We still have a right wing movement against intellectuals (which, btw, I do think is orchestrated by Putin et al.).
It seems to be stronger in the USA though.
Maybe because there *is* a connection between education and privilege? -
@smutmag @Daojoan Interesting angle re: money.
Wondering whether the US academic system has sth to do with the view of them being elitist. You need money to become educated.Here in Germany, college and university are free (though there are class threshholds obv).
We still have a right wing movement against intellectuals (which, btw, I do think is orchestrated by Putin et al.).
It seems to be stronger in the USA though.
Maybe because there *is* a connection between education and privilege?@megaphon @Daojoan I do want to be clear: The MAGA movement (and republicans in general) here is totally, 100% anti-intellectual. And their hatred of college is part of it. But I'm definitely speaking to why people here might gravitate towards the anti-intellectualism. Their latching onto a true problem--that there is a big class divide that favors people who went to college. And that, yes, it's basically extrotion: Pay 10's to 100's of thousands of dollars, or be poor.
