In our democratic age, experts are scorned as elitists. But isn't knowledge a useful thing?

St. Louis Post-Dispatch. ^ | 4/20/03 | Sarah Bryan Miller

[Valin]

Pop vocalists pose as opera singers. Important art museums exhibit installations that the cleaning staff mistakes for trash. Obscenity-riddled recitations, imposed over rhythm tracks, are reckoned to be music.

Laugh at (or otherwise criticize) these bad jokes and you're likely to find yourself anathematized as "elitist," a common hazard for professional critics. But just what is an elitist, anyway? And when did having standards and expertise become a bad thing?

[Larry Lucido]

But isn't knowledge a useful thing?

Not nearly as useful as wisdom.

[Valin]

True. The two do not necessarily go together. But (isn't there alays a but) can a person have wisdom w/o knowledge?

[js1138]

The word "envy" belongs to the elitist vocabularly.

[Sofa King]

I think that this ignores the real problem. Alot of the 'elite' aren't true intellectuals. I've known people who have sold themselves as being politically aware and independent thinkers but when it came to a debate didn't know such elementary facts such as the fact that we are spending an increasingly large percentage of our GDP on the government or that you need a 2/3 majority to convict a president after he's been impeached.

[Maigret]

All part of the great leftist push to level society into the lowest common denominator. Jose Ortega y Gasset wrote about it in his classic, The Revolt of the Masses - "The actual mass-man is, in fact, a primitive who has slipped through the wings onto the age-old stage of civilisation."

Excellence is not acceptable today, it makes the masses feel inferior.

[mabelkitty]

As long as we have Affirmative Action, this piece is worth nothing.

The best and the brightest will never be known for sure, but rather the best and brightest in a selective crowd will.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Proud elitist bump.

[Cacique]

Wisdom is gained throught the passage of time and experience. Knowledge is gained throught study and contemplation. However, they both require intelligence to be applied properly and that is a quality possesed at birth.

[Eva]

This author has it all wrong. An elitist doesn't simply know what is best in his field, he thinks that he knows what is best for everyone else and brooks no criticism of his opionion.

Take her example of high end kitchen appliances, most of the expensive Euro brands have no solid waste disposal in the bottom. I don't like to have to empty the trap in the bottom, so I prefer Kitchen Aid. (Not to mention that I am boycotting German products).

[Matchett-PI]

"...can a person have wisdom w/o knowledge?"

Regardless of how much education and knowledge of facts people have, it is NOT possible for them to properly apply it (be wise / use wisdom) if they are emotionally immature.

Even if they are able to admit the truth of any matter, they still say to themselves, "I have seen the truth, but it makes no sense".

They are just not emotionally equipped to properly interpret the facts.

This is the quintessential statement that applies to them: "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still".

To the degree that a person is emotionally immature, that is the degree to which that person will be UNable have any wisdom/understanding whatsoever.

Those who score under about 130 or so on this Emotional Intelligence (Maturity) Test would also show lots of evidence in their lives of a lack of wisdom.

If I was an employer, this would be the first test I would give to weed out job applicants.

About Emotional Intelligence:

There is no arguing that classical IQ, as measured by most intelligence tests, is important in our personal, academic, and professional success. However, emotional intelligence matters as much as the classical IQ. One could almost say that emotional intelligence is a prerequisite for the proper development and actualization of our other intellectual abilities.

[harpseal]

But (isn't there alays a but) can a person have wisdom w/o knowledge?

Wisdom is ageless and independant of full knowledge of any particular subject. Mark Twains comment about everyone is ignorant just on different subjects is a good justification for the independance of wisdom from any knowledge. Who can argue that James Madison was not wise in his formulation of a form of government?

[Cable225]

It can bring insights into why "High Noon" is an outstanding example of cinematography, whereas "Starship Troopers" is a scandalous waste of perfectly good celluloid (and of a pretty good juvenile science-fiction novel).

I don't know. If you're in the mood for big guns, big bugs, and big naked boobs you can't go wrong with Starship Troopers.