Elitism

how do we justify elitism? how do YOU justify your elitism? this mental outlaw video makes some valid points about elitism not being necessarily bad, this one in particular focuses about linux but i'm interested in elitism in other topics such as music, literature and so on. is it enough with just the notion that your taste is superior? how do you not look down upon other people? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxDFjGPqYog

>>34116 >how do you not look down upon other people? Because underestimating people is at best foolish and stupid because it is immature ego driven behaviour that cuts you off from learning from and teaching others. People who think they know everything learn the least and hobble along on the crutch of their own biases. At worst, underestimating people is dangerous.

elitism is a symptom of an over-active ego. It's also usually unearned IME.

. I don’t understand all of these youtube sophists that put out bullshit content. I get that the worlds decaying and everyones trying to cling to some moral structure but you can’t find any authentic (spiritual) soykaf on youtube channel it’s all egoic rambling and collecting ad revenue. Luke smith was better when he just stuck to linux tutorials.

The video linked made me wince with contempt the moment he started rambling about apathy, "survival" and "the extension of survival, which is achieving greatness", and then equating it with having Linux installed and knowing how it works.

You can't justify elitism. It's rooted in insecurity.

>>34116 Currently, even the absolute minimum of human standards will be mistaken for "elitism", and there's nothing elitist about what MO is actually saying. But *actual* elitism is just ego, and should be avoided. It's a weakness.

>>34128 Agreed. This sounds like mistaking any competence or the reality that people are not equal in skill or experience as elitism. Elitism comes with an exclusivity, while here the view is meritocratic: ability is accessible with time and effort. The greater problem is the incompetent mass of humanity tearing down people who go their own way in this world.

>>34131 Cutting out trash to preserve your own energy stems from a difference in skill. If you are a A student you wont work with F students because they drag you down. The best people keeping to themselves is exactly what the plebs complain about with elitism.

>>34127 A few hours ago my upstairs neighbour almost burned down the house, again. I justify my elitism on the grounds that he is stupid and I am not. Besides the blaring smoke alarm I have observed other patterns and believe the string of so-called "bad luck" he suffers from isn't luck related at all.

I believe elitism in itself isn't bad. It is essential for a community to get better in quality, relationships, or just to stay at the level of quality it currently has. A community unable to defend itself from low-effort members is doomed to fail. I also see nothing wrong with personal elitism justified with a good reason, backed up by actual skills. Not related to the video though. >how do you not look down upon other people? I only look down upon eceleb cancer and its underage auditory because I can see what clowns they actually are.

If there are people with certain ideas and the will and creativity to execute them they will need to exclude others who would dilute the rims of their shared imagination with too much clutter or ordinary bs that the the group wanted to distance itself from. Mainly thinking of artsy/scene ppl here. If such an ivory tower gains power however and its visions are out of touch with observable reality or clash with the masses there will be problems conflict and mismanagement if not subjugation. It were elitists who birthed the visions of art deco to dominate the skycrapers of America in the 20s and it are elitists who have dictated that our vision of the future is one of white round gleaming shapes and assymetric greenery.

>>34116 Kept me from self loathing and worse when I was younger. Eventually grew out of it. These days I wish I could still prop myself up by looking down upon others. Self-esteem is in the soykafter.

>>34116 it really depends what you call elitism. I am in very closed and small communities on internet, may it be about music, tech or any random stuff (heck, SEL fandom actually). If elitism is the will that communities remain small and are somewhat gatekeeped, then I am an elitist. It's not because I don't want average people to find out about stuff I like, but because sometimes it's nice to be in small communities, where you know almost everyone and feel like you belong. The gatekeeping can actually be somewhat natural, for example for the extratone music genre, when you look for it on youtube or watch a video about it they'll often show you some Diabarha musics. Although I love them, I must agree that they're not very enjoyable as a first-time experience. Therefore 99% of the people who find out about extratone run away because they think it's blatant soykaf. Now, if you think "elitism" means considering yourself superior to others in any way then it's absolutely not what I think and I believe this is a very mesed up way to see yourself.

In serious discussions about things, people tell me their view, I get what they say, I can predict what they will say next. I tell them my view, they don't get what I say, they can't predict what I'll say next. This applies to most people, so most people are likely dumber than I am, welcome to the elite club. I stop behaving in an elitist manner to people who get what I say, or who get things someone I don't get says and then break it down for me, or if they demonstrate that the things they say I don't get gives them some comparative advantage. I don't look down on people as much if they aren't cocky about their level. As for linux elitist, I've seen two types: 1) they have cyberpunk delusions about how they'll eventually be ahead when people relying on other operating systems get oppressed by some government / rekt by some malicious entity online 2) they for some reason are unable to properly use GUIs, or have use cases that are better suited for terminals, and project this over everything

>>34266 Thats just true and not a delusion. Using linux is the easiest malware protection. Makes simply no financial sense to target a small nerd userbase when windows owns the market. Theres also a third option: Programing against linux is much easier in some sectors. Of course thats not a bullet point consumers would care about.

>>34131 >>34132 So if I'm not good at anything I'm fuarrrked and should die. This is what you advocate for?

>>34676 Wouldnt say advocate, it just a description of how it works. The system isnt so kind as to put you against the wall and say success or death either. The modern approach gives you the minimum to survive for free so you wont turn criminal or try harder. Your fate is not "do or die" but to fizzle out silently.

As other anons said it depends on what you mean by elitist. If you hold yourself and others to a high standard and other people call you elitist for that you are not in the wrong they are. If you consider yourself better than others over a slight reason or nitpick over asinine details they have a right to call you elitist. Overall I think elitism being good vs bad depends on if it's over keeping good standards or pointless insulting others. Elitism getting a bad rap online sometimes feels like sour grapes over not getting into the cool club. I do think that elitism often develops as a communities defense mechanism. The status quo idea anyone can join a forum or online group combined with the ease of access means forums can easily be dominated by the lowest denominator or people not to invested in the group. The only way to fight this is to screen every person, create strict rules, or become elitist. I guess while we're on the topic I am an elitist when it comes to somethings. I predominately find music I like by looking through others playlists. When I'm looking for more obscure tracks I have to scan through a lists first 20 songs to see if a persons playlist is good or not. I end up dropping tons of playlists what most people would say as elitist reasons, but I know they're symptoms of a playlist with only bottom barrel songs

too many times its less about maintaining standards and more about fragile egos

>>34116 I don't. Elitism is generally a bad thing.

I watched the video a while ago but I don't remember it so I'll just ignore it. anyway, the arguement for elitism being alright - at least in certain areas (personally I think just in terms of art and medi) - is that complex art takes a lot of investment which the vast majority of people won't be willing (or have the time or whatever) to put in. Because of this 'elite' groups naturally form because there's an organic filtering process. I don't think elitism should be pushed, or anything but It makes sense to me that fandoms and stuff will develop a hierarchy based on the dedication of the fans. I also think it's nice to acknowledge when people clearly spend a lot of time and effort getting to know a franchise or artform or whatever inside and out.

>>34726 Please elaborate on why you feel elitism is "generally" bad.