Apparently Charles Murray in the WaPo has defined the cultural divide to identify what makes up the New Elite (vs, presumably, the Old Plebeians). This divide is what is righteously driving the Tea Parties so mad (or, as he quotes Glenn Beck, “On one side, we have the elites, and the other side, we have the regular people.”).
Given how little I care for the TPers and Beck, I figured I’d fit squarely into the Elitist camp.
While most of it has to do with elite preppies going to elite schools, Murray gives a whole series of cultural descriptors so you know who’s truly a New Elitist:
Talk to them about sports, and you may get an animated discussion of yoga, pilates, skiing or mountain biking, but they are unlikely to know who Jimmie Johnson is (the really famous Jimmie Johnson, not the former Dallas Cowboys coach), and the acronym MMA means nothing to them.
They can talk about books endlessly, but they’ve never read a “Left Behind” novel (65 million copies sold) or a Harlequin romance (part of a genre with a core readership of 29 million Americans).
Et cetera.
Claire Berlinski then created a test — from Murray’s own criteria — so that everyone could figure out whether they are a Plebe or one of the hated Elitists. Let’s take it and see what happens!
How Plebeian Am I?
1. Can you talk about “Mad Men?” No. I know what it’s about, but have never watched it.
2. Can you talk about the “The Sopranos?” No. I’ve only watched a few episodes, on business trips (we don’t get HBO at home).
3. Do you know who replaced Bob Barker on “The Price Is Right?” Nope.
4. Have you watched an Oprah show from beginning to end? No. I’d be surprised if I’ve watched more than 5 minutes of an Oprah show.
5. Can you hold forth animatedly about yoga? No. I took a couple quarters of yoga while in college — but not much animation about it.
6. How about pilates? I think he gets a bum rap in the Gospels, but … um, you mean the exercise regimen? I have a friend who was (is?) involved in it, but … no.
7. How about skiing? No. I went cross-country skiing a bit as a youth, but not much since. Intentionally hurtling down a mountain, and paying for the privilege, doesn’t float my boat.
8. Mountain biking? Not even street biking.
9. Do you know who Jimmie Johnson is? Nope.
10. Does the acronym MMA mean nothing to you? No. Metropolitan Museum of Art?
11. Can you talk about books endlessly? Now that I can do! Yes.
12. Have you ever read a “Left Behind” novel? Nope, but I love the “Tribulation Force” blog series that Slacktivist does on them. Endlessly amusing.
13. How about a Harlequin romance? Nope.
14. Do you take interesting vacations? Well, I find them interesting, so yes. My blogging audience has to suffer through them, too (which may explain the size of my blogging audience).
15. Do you know a great backpacking spot in the Sierra Nevada? Nope. Never been much into backpacking. I like comforts like “mattresses” and “indoor plumbing.”
16. What about an exquisite B&B overlooking Boothbay Harbor? Where? No.
17. Would you be caught dead in an RV? Yes. I’ve both vacationed and slept in them. I could see renting one for some trips, but it’s not likely.
18. Would you be caught dead on a cruise ship? Yes. I am fairly certain we will eventually end up on a cruise ship. I have no idea if this will be horrid or lovely, and it may or may not depend on where we are cruising to.
19. Have you ever heard of of Branson, Mo? Yes. Never been there, though (which is true for most places in Missouri).
20. Have you ever attended a meeting of a Kiwanis Club? No.
21. How about the Rotary Club? Yes. I participated in several Rotary Club speech contests as a high schooler, getting up to the state level on a couple of occasions. Not my choice for spending my lunches as an adult professional, but those who like that sort of thing will find it the sort of thing they like.
22. Have you lived for at least a year in a small town? I am a child of suburbia, so, no. Closest would be 8 mos. living in Ft Collins, Colorado.
23. Have you lived for a year in an urban neighborhood in which most of your neighbors did not have college degrees? Never lived in an urban neighborhood.
24. Have you spent at least a year with a family income less than twice the poverty line? No.
25. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian? I don’t think so. Not as has come up in conversation. I have some acquaintances who are, though.
26. Have you ever visited a factory floor? Yes.
27. Have you worked on one? No.
My initial read was that you get “Plebe” cred for positive answers on 3, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. You get “Elite” cred for positive answers on 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16. It’s not clear if you lose cred for having a negative answer, so we’ll leave that off.
On that basis, I get 5 Plebe points, 2 Elite points. That’s 29% Plebe, 20% Elite. So … I guess I’m a bit more Plebe than Elite, but not much of either.
Kevin Drum’s scoring mechanism is more geared to one or the other, based solely on what makes a good Plebe (e.g., not being able to talk about Mad Men makes one Plebeian, as opposed to simply not Elitist). In that case, you get Plebe credits for negative answers on the Elite scores. On that basis, I get 13 out of 27, or a 48% Plebe score (or, conversely, a 52% Elite score).
Is that enough to avoid the torches and pitchforks come the TPer Revolution?
(Needless to say, this — Murray’s article, specifically — is dreck of the worst kind, as the commenters at Steve Benan’s site put it most pungently. But mildly amusing, if only to see what some folks consider to be signs of Elitism, especially Harvard grads who work at libertarian think tanks.)
Thanks, Dave… made me smile this morning as most of my answers mirror yours! Hope you and Margie celebrated the 47th in grand style!
Thank you, sir. Celebration for the Magic Number was limited last night (due to a business dinner), but she got all her gifts unwrapped just fine. We’re going out for a nice dinner tonight.
MMA, btw, is Mixed Martial Arts, aka Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), aka “Pro Wrestling for the 00s, But With More Tattoos.” Had to look that one up.
I also am 13/27 plebeian. And I knew that Drew What’s-his-name replaced Bob Barker because TV Guide made a big deal about it at the time.
1. Can you talk about “Mad Men?” No. I know what it’s about, but have never watched it.
2. Can you talk about the “The Sopranos?” Yes, loved it, enen the ending.
3. Do you know who replaced Bob Barker on “The Price Is Right?” Nope.
4. Have you watched an Oprah show from beginning to end? No. Even while unemployed I never watched it.
5. Can you hold forth animatedly about yoga? Nope.
6. How about pilates? Nope.
7. How about skiing? Yeppers, Both Nordic and Apline, up until I was 30 and it hurt my knees too much to ski more than half a day.
8. Mountain biking? Yeppers, into my mid 30s, now my Mountain bike is more of a road bike though.
9. Do you know who Jimmie Johnson is? Ex-couch of the Hurricanes and the Dallas Cowboys? (oops, according to the original article by Euginist Murry, that is the wrong Jimmie Johnson. 🙁 )
10. Does the acronym MMA mean nothing to you? Massively Multiplayer Assimulation?
11. Can you talk about books endlessly? Define endlessly?
12. Have you ever read a “Left Behind” novel? Oh dear god no.
13. How about a Harlequin romance? Nope.
14. Do you take interesting vacations? Well, I think so.
15. Do you know a great backpacking spot in the Sierra Nevada? Ummm…nope, but how elitist of you.
16. What about an exquisite B&B overlooking Boothbay Harbor? Where? No.
17. Would you be caught dead in an RV? Not until I am older and I assume the probability of being caught dead will increase.
18. Would you be caught dead on a cruise ship? Yes. Again, not until I am older.
19. Have you ever heard of of Branson, Mo? Yes. It’s where old singers and comedians go to die.
20. Have you ever attended a meeting of a Kiwanis Club? No.
21. How about the Rotary Club? No.
22. Have you lived for at least a year in a small town? Define small town. Doomfield was 20k when I lived there for 4 years, does that count?
23. Have you lived for a year in an urban neighborhood in which most of your neighbors did not have college degrees? Urban, yes, without degrees, no.
24. Have you spent at least a year with a family income less than twice the poverty line? Family? No. Myself, yes, while I was unemployed.
25. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian? Not that I was aware of.
26. Have you ever visited a factory floor? Yes.
27. Have you worked on one? Define work. The Flats was pretty much nothing but buildings with factory floors, and I did my job there, so I will assume that this is a yes.
so 5/5 so I guess I am pretty 1337!
I must be pretty elite, but many of the questions were ambiguous to me. For instance, I ride a mountain bike every day – a pretty expensive one – but I don’t “go biking”. So I don’t know how to read that one. Of course nuance is elitist in itself.
Given that you ride a mountain bike, I think that’s pretty much a sign that you’re a member of the elite, George (especially since you do it for health and environmental reasons). Real Americans ride Huffy and Schwinn street bikes. Until they’re 17, then they inherit Dad’s pickup truck.
Why isn’t golf mentioned? With the country-club memberships, it’s pretty elitist. It seems much more elitist to me than Mountain Biking. Membership in airline elite-passenger clubs? Living in gated communities?
Of course, those things would make the republicans look less like “regular people”. I’d like to see a similar quiz intended to make republicans look out of touch.
Of course. The stereotype is about *cultural* elitism. Too many good, God-fearing Americans (especially with money and spare time) play golf.
Here’s what I don’t get about the sports thing: the most-suspect sports are the ones that ordinary people actually take part in as adults, with the sole exception of golf. Very few Americans over 40 play football, baseball or basketball but those sports are considered all-American. Maybe that means “sports that can be enjoyed sitting down while consuming beer.” People over 40 who bike, wind-surf, ski or hike are “elitist”. But golf is OK. Wait, I get it now: in golf, you ride around in a motorized car and hit a ball with a stick. All those other sports require actual effort.
I golf (on occasion), sometimes with and sometimes without a cart. Even with a cart, it’s not a trivial amount of walking, esp. if you play like I do (and end up off in places where the cart’s not allowed).
Real Golfers, of course, eschew a cart, unless physically unable to do otherwise and keep up with the suggested speed of play.
Actually….
It *is* odd that golf is not on the list for elite sports. I’ll suspect it is because Charles Murrey plays golf, so he decided to not add it to his list of things that liberals do that annoy him.
Cultural elitism makes me think of opera, the symphony, and expensive art. I think wealthy Republican businessmen and women participate in that stuff more than any other group.
No, no, no, those are the Old Elitists, many of whom donate generously to the GOP. Murray is criticizing the New Elitists, many of whom don’t.