Elitism: the Barrier to Growth No One Wants to Face

Rolling around my neighboring town after a short physical therapy session, I decide to let some airflow into the cabin of the SUV via good old-fashioned windows. One of my greatest joys as a human is cranking up the music in my car and letting the wind fly through my hair. As I listen to my new favorite song, Buckle Bunny, I have a revelation: country rap is one of the best things to ever happen to music genres. Thinking about how divisive that comment might be in the midst of peers, one group came to mind immediately. The New England elites would never, ever let my non-ivy-league undereducated musical opinion go unchallenged.

First would be the subtle ‘agree to disagree’ conversation, followed by the sly and covert unveiling to all in the area of my layman’s background. A pathetic attempt to discredit my opinion just because I’m not, what white acedemia deems, an ‘expert’. Maybe it’s just that I don’t understand what I’m saying when I say that country rap is good, or that it’s even a genre due to my lack of understanding and wealth class. Typically followed up with the ‘now don’t get me wrong, of course I’m not a racist but’ argument as to why country rap is somehow inferior to other musical art forms. The song and dance are always the same, and unfortunately this is far from my first rodeo.

What is elitism? The vast majority of people correlate elitism with money, but I would also add that money is not the determining factor. The determining factor, like anything, is the belief system to which elitists adhere. Primarily, elitism is strictly grounded in a profound, almost narcissistic sense of ego.

Elitists tend to be stunted emotionally, stuck in the realm of self. Perception, above all else, is key. Elitists project an air of caring, when in reality their only real concern is in how others perceive their character and actions, not actually in being a person of compassionate action. In elitism, there is no room for creativity which explains why many elitists are innovatively bankrupt. In order for creativity to flourish, there must be an allowance for exploration; a certain brash disregard for stringency. In a sense, it’s an extreme exploration of letting go; letting go of perception, letting go of judgement, and letting go of identity. This inability to let go of control in how the outside world perceives their being deeply impacts the elitist, rendering them unable to move forward with creative thinking and the rewiring of the brain.

New England seems to be a place brimming with elitists. While jokes fly about the wealthy on Cape Cod, the majority of elitists I experience only aspire to be so rich. Not to say the people I’ve encountered don’t have money, quite the opposite. However, there is keeping up with the Jones’, and then there’s not knowing the Jones even exist. 99% are keeping up with the Jonses’, begging to be noticed. The less than 1% don’t know about the Jones’ because they’re living at such an absurd level of wealth that their reality, unlike the majority of the world’s, is based in a reality exclusive to the ultra-rich, albeit it is a completely obscene and dysfunctional reality. Whereas the 99% only aspire to be so wealthy. For the 99%, rich is never enough.  I tend to encounter, and loathe, those within the 99%.

Say what you will about the less than 1%, but at the very least their perceived reality is real. They do live in tens of thousands of square feet homes with 13 bedrooms tended by maids, cooks, and nannies. This lifestyle is not an aspiration, but already their daily experience. This life is one in which they live not in isolation, but amongst other ultra-wealthy. For the richest of the rich, it’s just another day in the paradise of life.

Alas, back to the 99%. The plague of elitism in white collar New England continues to be a hindrance to healing and progress. For instance, I constantly meet people whose personal need to be validated as a good person negates the progress they attempt to achieve via volunteering in community spaces. Unfortunately, these volunteers in the 99% are primarily white women. Time after time, I’ve encountered a white woman volunteering for some board somewhere, totally disregarding the needs of the people they claim and preach to represent. More alarming still, I find them willing to trample on the needs of the most downtrodden in order to receive their own personal accolades and deem this stampede progressive, while simultaneously demanding recognition and gratitude for services unwanted rendered. Services, I will point out, that are supposedly given free of charge for the needs of the greater good.

Elitism is the scourge of liberalism. True progress is stifled under the weight of performance. Performative justice is not justice. Performative progress is not progress, for it tends to be segregating. Performative progress is progress for cisgender, able-bodied, whites only. The concept of performative politics and performative justice seems to elude the most highly educated area in the nation. This is not by happenstance; it is in fact a calculated byproduct of the systemic white supremacy and patriarchal structures used to educate the elite today. This is why it is not surprising that I’ve never met more elitists than I have in New England, nor have I ever met a group more out of touch.

Am I saying I have not met a racist, classist, or elitist in the midwest or the south? No. I am only saying that the epidemic of elitism, which is the barrier to the biggest opportunity for progress in our nation, is centered in New England.

Whitewashing of education has been detrimental to the eradication of elitism. Money in education has also been a big problem in ivy leagues. One of New England’s dirtiest little secrets is that of wealth and nepotism. Everyone knows in this area that getting into an Ivy League isn’t so much about the grades as it is the money. Statistically, most people who attend ivy league schools have money and are white. This money comes from the advantage that white Americans hold over people of color in this nation. I could go into detail as to why that is, particularly about how slavery impacted the black Americans and white Americans of today, or how segregation continued to impact minority communities, or how redlining in the 60’s and 70’s effectively took the place of segregation as a legal way to circumvent civil rights, or about how the Natives of this land were corralled and segregated and left with nothing, but I don’t have the time and I feel it’s on the responsibility of the reader at this point to educate themselves on these matters, particularly if they find themselves offended at my words. Needless to say, the leg up that white New Englanders have on nearly everyone else in this country, is a circumstance of design and not sheer luck. It is a circumstance by design which few want to address.

White, well-educated people simultaneously confound and trouble me. Due to their own inability to see beyond their own egos, they shoot themselves in the foot in attempting to meet the very goals they say they wish to achieve. As one will notice, there’s no shortage of social justice organizations, progressive rights movements, and liberal leaning collectives in New England. The one thing that is missed when talking about liberalism is that because the need for chasing social progress is so ubiquitous in this region, the human need for belonging socially centers around subscribing to a more progressive set of values. In short, because almost everyone here believes in progressive values, in order to be socially accepted and belong in this area, you, too, are expected to lean into progressive liberal values, or expect to be on the fringes of this society.

Belonging is a powerful component in social change. Most people don’t have the courage to go against the grain and risk being ostracized from their social groups. Thus, we have a lot of performative progressivism happening to a greater degree in areas where liberalism is the norm. This is a commonly overlooked but very impactful piece to the elitist puzzle.

Writing well is not distinguished by how articulate one can be, but rather how well one connects with their audience. The same could be said of community care. It is not how much one talks about justice or performs for the sake of belonging, but it is in the listening of the folks who are marginalized and taking actions based on that minority-led feedback. It’s about putting yourself aside in order to hear and bolster someone else whose existence has been systematically oppressed. Minority groups do not need boards full of white people to tell them how to perform community care. Minority groups, because of their experience with oppression, are already masters of community care and equity and justice. What they need is for us, the white folks, to step aside. To step outside of our identities. To champion the ideas of the minority leaders. To learn what it means to engage in community care and dismantle elitism and white supremacy and patriarchy and all of the systems which continue to favor whites over everyone else. It’s really not a difficult concept - but it’s all about putting it into practice.

White people are not the only people with good ideas because they have money and attended Ivy League schools. Hell, I’ve known much more intelligent, charming, and compassionate people with nothing but a GED and bare feet. If you live in New England and you’re passionate about social justice, or at the very least, not being an asshole, then I implore you to go on a tour of self-discovery. Chances are, you’ve got some things to work out.