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smw wrote:
> *Anarcissie* wrote:
>
> > smw wrote:
> >
> >>Arindam Banerjee wrote:
> >>
> >>>>Wrong again -- Hitler knew precisely how to turn the anti-elitist stances
> >>>>so many here pride themselves on to his advantage.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>Do you mean that Hitler's racism (what could be more elitist) has been
> >>>highly overrated?
> >>
> >>I mean that racism and the rhetoric anti-elitism are comfortable
> >>bed-fellows. There are and can be no anti-elitist states, in any case,
> >>there are only more and less explicit constructions of elites. The less
> >>explicit, the less debateable, the more naturalized and internalized.
> >
> > So our only political choice is between an authoritarian regime
> > and a totalitarian one? Is that what you're saying?
>
> I don't have the slightest idea where you're coming from with this
> question. Unless your assumption is that all citizens are equally good
> at anything, or that pretending that this is the case is a political
> desideratum.
Well, you appeared to be talking about the state -- "there are
and can be no anti-elitist states, there are only more or less
explicit constructions of elites." You appeared to me not to
be talking about the category of, say, bassoon-players.
Therefore I assumed you were talking about a political elite,
not just the people who happen to be good at doing some
particular thing, while others might be good and some other
particular thing, and nobody was considered to be better at
everything. When I say "political elite" I mean people
who have or seek some sort of authority or hegemony over
a whole community. So if you say "there are only more or
less explicit constructions of [ political ] elites" then we
have (1) explicit constructions of a political elite, like, say, a
monarchy; (2) implicit or hidden constructions of a political
elite, like an alleged democracy which is actually run by a
party or a conspiracy of plutocrats or the like. Or, I suppose,
something in between. In effect you seem to be saying that
a liberal state, with its professions of rights, democratic
institutions and popular sovereignty, is necessarily fraudulent.
Hence we wind up with a choice between an authoritarian
regime, with an explicit elite, and a totalitarian regime, where
the elite operates through fraud (democracy, the free market,
advertising) as well as force.
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