Mr. Webster must certainly be making a valiant attempt to escape from the grave to update his dictionary to meet new 21st century definitions. The current wordspeak, seemingly straight out of George Orwell’s “1984”, has taken many words and twisted them into an intent that was never conceived by previous generations.
The most battered of all those terms appears to be the word “Elitist”. Webster’s New World Dictionary (the 1984 edition) defines elite as “the group or part of a group regarded as the best, most powerful, etc.” The same edition Thesaurus groups the term with the words: society, nobility, celebrities, and aristocracy. Not so according to certain politicians and pundits……..
One is now a elitist based on what they eat, where they shop, how their spend their leisure time, and how they dress. Aren’t these all personal choices empowered to each individual by the Founding Fathers in their attempt to secure personal liberties and freedom for future generations? And weren’t some of the earliest immigration waves a search for a land in which their own choices superceded those of a totalitarian government?
Why should one be considered an elitist because they choose arugula over collard greens? And please, don’t be caught shopping at Whole Foods!
What is wrong with preferring a sushi bar to a hamburger joint? And why should one be denigrated for driving down the highway with the loud blare of an opera aria, rather than country music?
If one is an elitist for considering a “Theater” to be a stage, rather than a screen where one views a movie, then definitely put me in that class. And if one is considered an elitist because they don’t follow a sport where cars race around in a circle and you can’t even tell who is ahead, then mark me down in that column. If preferring orzo and couscous to macaroni and cheese is a really bad thing, then chain me up to a whipping post and get out the strap. And the crime of all crimes is, of course, choosing to have a glass of wine rather than a beer.
Aren’t we all Americans? Don’t we each have the right to have personal preferences without being categorized? If we were all alike it would be a very boring place.
Let’s forget about how well one can bowl, whether they eat pancakes for breakfast, and how comfortable he or she is with drinking a beer at a neighborhood bar with the guys. What really matters is judgement, diplomacy, intelligence, and a strong feeling of concern and care for ALL Americans.