#elitism

Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' ↗

— Isaac Asimov

#elite #elitism #elitist #voter #voting

...what is art to the dilettante but the initiation of the sacred few to the exclusion of the profane crowd?... ↗

— John Geddes

#elitism #exclusivism #writing #art

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. ↗

— H.L. Mencken

#elite #elitism #elitist #meritocracy #politics

If one cannot learn from the mistakes of others, one might as well become a Democrat. ↗

— Esther M. Friesner

#irony #politics #supernatural

Like it or not, philosophy or intellectual activity in ancient China was distinguished from manual labor, and thus philosophical texts were not only political in nature (because they normally addressed the issue of good government and social order) but also “esoteric.” They were not meant to contribute to general education, but to be studied only by a small fraction of the population, i.e., by those who had access to learning and power. If we want to understand the Laozi historically, we have to accept this context and thus also the fact that, as a philosophical treatise, it did not attempt to be generally accessible. It was originally a text for the few—and it clearly shows. ↗

— Hans-Georg Moeller

#elitism #education

They're so cold, these scholars! May lightning strike their food so that their mouths learn how to eat fire! ↗

— Friedrich Nietzsche

#education #elitism #higher-education #scholars #scholarship