Posted by Patrick Newman on April 11, 2002 at 14:42:37 from 210.50.87.230:
In Reply to: Re: Casual Elitism - absolutely untrue posted by Patrick Newman on April 11, 2002 at 13:56:36:
You obviously haven’t travelled in the Sydney and Auckland Suburbs I have either, never mind about the rest of the two countries.
I do agree with you comment about us being of the elite however. Just the mere fact we discuss via this media proves that.
As a late attempt to get back onto topic. Casual elitism could be a description of a state of mind by which people can't see or never are exposed to "the other side of life". It is a state where which "class" you live in is of no consequence.
For Example the concept of paying $200 dollars for a bottle of wine, and drinking it my be incomprehensible to a millionaire or a minimum wager as it can be understandable to a millionaire of a minimum wager. It depends on the mind set.
I showed my own casual elitism (read ignorance) recently while travelling, in particular to Egypt, my Doctor (there again an example of being among the elite, I have a Doctor and I can travel!) advised me to take a polio booster. I was surprised; I thought Polio had gone from this world.
AR I think showed his CE with the assumption that his readers would find his stories normal. (Tongue in cheek, can't remember the emoticon), no seriously, perhaps he didn't have any, perhaps he wrote for his audience. The people who bought his books. The Middle Class. After all his Russian time would have exposed him to "the other side of life" so ignorance can't be an excuse. After as Mark Twain said, (I paraphrase being without a copy of Huck) Its just a story.