Elitism :: The Price You Will Pay by Carol Hawke

By Carol Hawke

I have retired from writing for the dog world and am not involved in purebred dogs in any practical sense. However, I do not intend to leave with an unchallenged rebuff criticizing the effectual efforts I have provided on behalf of the dog world for the past several years as a dog writer. So you think “elitism” could prove a good thing? Then let us more carefully consider this attempt at redefining the very concept of elitism. We are now obligated to study the root attitude that it stems from as well as the consequences directly resulting from the practice thereof, in terms of historical and spiritual significance. Before we move to adjourn this subject, we should consider where the practice of elitism has traditionally carried mankind. It seems appropriate to quote major reference sources at this point, of which, Wikipedia stands a favorite so I have included it as well. Let us now examine the official definition of “elitism.”

elite
Pronunciation: A-'lEt, i-, E-
Function: noun
Etymology: French élite, from Old French eslite, from feminine of eslit, past participle of eslire to choose, from Latin eligere
1 a) singular or plural in construction: the choice part: CREAM <the elite of the entertainment world> b) singular or plural in construction: the best of a class <superachievers who dominate the computer elite -- Marilyn Chase> c) singular or plural in construction: the socially superior part of society <how the elite live -- A P World> <how the French-speaking elite...was changing -- Economist> d) a group of persons who by virtue of position or education exercise much power or influence <members of the ruling elite> <the intellectual elites of the country> e) a member of such an elite -- usually used in plural <the elites..., pursuing their studies in Europe -- Robert Wernick>

I quote for your deepest personal consideration (emphasis mine of course); “The socially superior part of society.” “A group of persons who by virtue of position or education exercise much power of influence…members of the ruling elite, the intellectual elites of the country.”

Elitism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elitism is the belief or attitude that the people who are considered to be the elite — a selected group of people with outstanding personal abilities, wealth, specialised training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are the people whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously, or that these are persons whose views should be regarded as carrying the most weight, or, more simply, these people are best fit to govern or whose views and/or actions are mostly likely to be constructive. Alternatively, the term elitism could be used to describe a situation in which power is in fact concentrated in the hands of an elite, whether rightly or not.

Elitism is often used pejoratively to describe a general mindset of arrogance or disregard for the general non-elite public (Meritocracy, a special kind of elitism, usually does not carry this connotation).

I quote for you again merely to clarify this accepted definition of elitism, “the belief or attitude…” Elitism is a supposition, an attitude but never a proven fact. It is only a belief wielded by those who place themselves in any such group intending to create value distinctions between people. Foremost in this process and as can be easily understood within these modern day connotations; it is an effort to set oneself APART from others. Disunity, therefore, is a primary characteristic and a direct result of elitism. Again I quote from the reference sources available regarding the ‘elite,’ “are the people whose views on a matter are to be taken MOST seriously…regarded as carrying the most weight, or more simply, these people are best fit to GOVERN…”

Why should talent, virtuous capacities or any accumulation of experience substantially set anyone apart from all others? We all possess these unique quantities and qualities in various realms of our lives. Is it truly realistic to pursue elitism or is this behavior primarily a self-initiated effort to boost improperly developed self-esteems by vigorously inflating starved egos? Elitism is, at best, an applied effort to self-righteously sanctify oneself from all of humanity.

elitism
• practice of or belief in rule by an elite.
• consciousness of or pride in belonging to a select or favored group.

Source: The Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Copyright ©1997 by Random House Inc.

elitism
• The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.
• a) The sense of entitlement enjoyed by such a group or class. b) Control, rule, or domination by such a group or class.

THINKGEEK
ELITISM. Quote:

“It's Lonely At The Top. But It's Comforting To Look Down Upon Everyone At The Bottom.”

Therefore, let us now consider a historical atrocity precipitated by elitism as revealed within the development of an outspokenly elitist government. Nazism. A corps of elite soldiers led by one man who considered himself supremely “elite.” One mans elitist notion spread like a malignant disease creating and sustaining a movement that consequently slaughtered innocent multiplied millions. If we somehow fail to grasp the simple premise of elitism we will miss the growing reality that it is, and continues to prove through practice, utterly damnable and indefensible. If we are foolishly misled regarding its absolute potential toward absolute corruption, we will be unable to make a quality decision regarding whether it is worthwhile to personally entertain such a seemingly harmless notion ourselves. Elitism causes people to self-righteously believe they unusually deserve to be set apart and recognized as a privileged group or class within any given society and, therefore, are gifted above the remainder of mankind.

I would like each of you to honestly and diligently comprehend that it is entirely possible to be professionals in your fields without being ‘elitists,’ that is - harboring an elitist attitude. Please studiously peruse the following synopses describing the formation of just one historically significant, elitist society.

The origins of the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) can be traced back to the creation of a group of 200 men who were to act as Hitler's body guard. This body guard was created by Hitler in reaction to his unease at the size and strength of the SA (Sturmabteilung, or "Storm Detachment"). The SA had grown so large that Hitler felt he needed an armed escort that was totally dedicated to him. Thus the Schutzstaffel (SS) or "protection squad" was created. After Hitler's imprisonment (and subsequent release) in the wake of the failed Munich Putsch in 1923, he saw an even greater need for a body guard, and the place of the SS was solidified in the Nazi hierarchy.

Until 1929 - the SA was still the dominant force in the Nazi Party, however - the SS was growing in strength and importance. In January 1929, Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler to lead the SS (his rank was Reichsführer), and it was Himmler's goal to create an elite corps of armed soldiers within the party. However, the SS was still a very small organization, and Hitler wanted an effective force by 1933. Himmler set out to recruit men who represented the elite of German society, both in physical abilities and political beliefs. Through his active recruitment, Himmler was able to increase the size of the SS to about 52,000 by the end of 1933.

Although the SS was growing exponentially, the SA mirrored the growth of Hitler's private army. The SA had over 2 million members at the end of 1933. Led by one of Hitler's old comrades, Ernst Röhm, the SA represented a threat to Hitler's attempts to win favour with the German army. As well, the SA threatened to sour Hitler's relations with the conservative elements of the country, whose support Hitler needed to solidfy his position in the German government. Hitler decided to act against the SA, and the SS was put in charge of eliminating Röhm and the other high ranking officers of the SA. The Night of the Long Knives on June 30, 1934 saw the execution of (officially) 82 SA men (today's estimates are that about 200 people were eliminated), including almost the entire leadership, and effectively ended the power of the SA.

During the Night of the Long Knives, the SS performed precisely as Hitler had envisioned, and from that point on, Himmler and his SS would be only responsible to Hitler becoming a major force in the N.S.D.A.P second only to the PO (POLTISCH ORGANISATION-The party cadre organisation). With his newfound independence, Himmler expanded the SS and created several new departments within the existing infrastructure. In particular, Himmler created the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) which was to act as the Reich's security service. In 1936, Himmler was appointed Chief of the German police. It is often mistakenly understood that this appointment gave him command authority over the police. In fact, he was merely granted most, though not all, of the supervisory powers over the police hitherto exercised by the Ministry of the Interior. Himmler was never able to gain command authority over the uniformed police orpo in areas where a civilian administration existed, both within and without the Reich proper. Himmler then reorganized the Reich's police service to include the Ordnungspolizei (uniformed police), and the Sicherheitspolizei (security police-in affect, the detective force). The Sicherheitspolizei was further divided into the Kriminalpolizei or Kripo ("Criminal police") and the Geheime Staatspolizei or Gestapo ("Secret Police"), only the Gestapo was under Himmler and the SS' operational control in the Reich proper (including Austria, the sudetans and the "Polish" gaue). Elsewhere, however, the fusion of Kripo and Gestapo into the Sichernheispolizei was mostly successful. By September 1939, Kripo, Gestapo and SD were headquartered at the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Main office of Reich Security (RSHA). The RSHA was under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich and later Ernst Kaltenbrunner.

In addition to its police powers, the SS comprised a group of armed men that were used for security and ceremonial purposes. This organization was called the SS-Verfügungstruppe. Included in this group was Hitler's protection squad, known as the Stabwache. This protection squad had been created in March 1933 and would be the foundation for the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler". Leibstandarte was different from other SS formations in that they had sworn an oath directly to Hitler and thus effectively removed them from control of Himmler. Later, Hitler would form the RSD (Reich Security Service) to provide him and other senior officials with personal security, whereupon the Leibenstandarte would merge back completely into the SS. The RSD, though recruited from SS and police (mostly Gestapo) personnel, and though it used the SS table of ranks, was an entirely separate agency.

When Hitler reintroduced conscription in 1935, he also mandated that the SS-Verfügungstruppen would be fully formed as a military unit. SS-Verfügungstruppen along with the Totenkopf formations would be the cornerstone of future Waffen-SS divisions. Special schools at Bad Tölz and Braunschweig were created to train future SS officers. Himmler selected former Lieut. General Paul Hausser to oversee the training and schooling of the SS. Hausser also created two new SS regiments. "Deutschland" and "Germania" were formed from various battalions of the Verfügungstruppe and would be the foundation for the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" and 5th SS Panzer Division "SS Division Wiking". After the annexation of Austria, another regiment composed of Austrian Nazis named "Der Führer" was created. Thus, at the outbreak of hostilities, there were four SS armed regiments (although "Der Führer" was not ready for combat).

After the conclusion of the campaign against Poland, the three regiments of the Verfügungstruppe were joined to form the Verfügungsdivision and Leibstandarte was transformed into a motorized regiment. Also, two other divisions were created, the SS "Totenkopfdivision" and "Polizeidivision". In March 1940, after an agreement between the Army and the SS, the title of Waffen-SS was officially given. The Waffen-SS took part in almost every major battle and were shifted from front to front, depending on the severity of the situation. In the end, the Waffen-SS would total 38 divisions (although some of these formations were divisions in name only). Their importance in the history of the Second World War cannot be overlooked. Their effectiveness as fighting units coupled with the atrocities that were committed make the Waffen-SS one of the most infamous military organizations in history.

Please consider a second, confirming historical analysis revealing the development of an “elitist trend” through the profoundly elitist Nazi movement. Incidentally if you remain interested at this point, that once defeated movement is currently undergoing a shocking revival and horrifying metamorphosis not only in Europe but, clearly, in the Middle East. In Iran, the phoenix-specter has already arisen from murderous ashes.

SS

The Schutzstaffel (German for "Protective Corps," often abbreviated SS) was an elite paramilitary unit of the German Nazi party. It was formed from the ranks of the SA in 1925 to be Adolf Hitler's personal guard and to guard NSDAP meetings. On January 6, 1929 Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as the leader of the SS, which then had only 280 people among its ranks. With Hitler's approval Himmler built up the SS and by the end of 1932 the SS already had 52,000 members. After only a year the SS had over 209,000 members.

Before 1932, the SS wore the same uniform as the SA, except for a black tie and a black cap with a skull symbol on it (Totenkopf, "death's head"). Later they adopted a black uniform and then, just before the war, a field grey uniform.

Heinrich Himmler, together with his right-hand man, Reinhard Heydrich, consolidated the power of the organisation. In 1931, Himmler gave Heydrich the assignment to build an intelligence service inside the SS, the Sicherheitsdienst.

By the time World War II began the number of members rose to 250,000 and the Waffen-SS was formed in December 1940 to fight alongside the Wehrmacht, Germany's regular military. The SS also received control of the Gestapo in 1936.

The SS evolved into a highly effective and deadly force during World War II. At its peak, its name and reputation for efficient and terrifying violence was enough to strike fear into the heart of anyone. Hitler gave the SS jurisdiction over all concentration camps and allowed them to oversee the day-to-day control of all countries conquered by Germany during the war.

Towards the end of World War II, a group of former SS officers went to Argentina and set up a Nazi fugitive network code-named ODESSA (an acronym for Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen) with tentacles in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the Vatican, operated out of Buenos Aires, which helped Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele, Erich Priebke and many other war criminals find refuge in Latin America.

I grant you, Nazism is an extreme form of elitism. Well then, let’s evaluate the effects of a much milder and more familiar form. Elitism in the dog world as we recognize it today. Do you think elitism is a problem in the structure and function of the American Kennel Club? What about in the structure and function of the Judges Department? But wait - if elitism is a disguised virtue then the existing structures, resulting corporate and departmental behaviors and decisions should be regarded positively and welcomed with open arms. What then would account for the undeniable fact that a growing majority of exhibitors and dog judges are so displeased with their experiences therein?

Is their elitism revealed within the structure and function of dog clubs and at dog shows? Have you noticed an elitist attitude thriving conspicuously within the pyramid style structure that supports modern dog clubs and dog shows? You never have? Then you are among a very small minority. What treatment does the show chairman expect as he struts around or more likely wheels about in the only available golf cart on the site compared to the pooper scooper attendant? No difference? None at all? What sort of treatment does the refreshment cart pusher expect compared to the dog judge? How about the ring steward compared to the catalog salesperson? Let’s consider just YOUR attitude for a moment.

What attitude do YOU reflect at your dog club meeting? I guess that would depend upon whether you are a newbie, a founding member or a club official. What attitude do you reflect as a dog judge at a dog show? Do you feel it is beneath you to speak on a candid level with the people serving at that show? Is it unthinkable to address visitors at a dog show or to have the ignorant plying you, the expert, with their silly questions? Is it beneath you to partake of a meal with the people serving you? Do you sit at one table and your stewards another? Do you dine only with dog judges and ignore the superintendent’s crew across the room? Whose bright idea was it to sanctify and set you apart as the “dog show elite” to begin with?

What are we really afraid of? Will AKC come down hard on us if they discover we have spoken candidly with other non-dog judge mortals? Will we be misunderstood and cruelly maligned by our fellow judges? Will non-dog judge people infect us with their “lowlife” germs? Or have we so thoroughly paid our dues in this Sport that we find ourselves elevated into that elite category of those most deserving of privileged treatment? Rather, is it not a proven fact that the very elite governing America’s dog judges do not trust the “finest, most highly trained and skilled pool of dog judges on earth” to interract with other human beings at dog shows and dog club meetings? Please read AKC’s judging protocol manual before you respond.

I guarantee you, the multitude of servants working in efficient unity beneath the pinnacle of that pyramid at dog shows and dog clubs have, in most cases, been paying their dues for years and, more likely, decades. They will keep on paying them so that a privileged few can enjoy the spotlight while diligently maintaining their “fair share”of that carefully defined, elite status. The reality is that the ‘elite’ classes within all spectrums of society only exist in confused and ignorant minds…and that only through vigorous training and endless repetition.

I am going to set you straight once and for all! You will not like it but many of you need it more than you need air today. You were born naked with nothing in your hands and you will die as naked and empty handed as you came into this world. Not one elite thing you ever accomplished or accumulated will go with you. In this very same manner will go every person in this world. So has every person in this world come and gone since time began. Your education and wealth will afford you nothing in death nor in the eternity that exists beyond this mortal sphere. It won’t matter if you were the former president, the former president of AKC, the former dog club president or Ann Rogers Clark, the “greatest dog judge that ever lived”. You will die just as they did. However, the key to success in that eternity that presently surrounds and encroaches upon your life is hinged upon one incredibly simple premise. How well you avoided elitism in your mind and heart and embraced the fullness of a life created for all men to exist through genuine respect and absolute equality. That life was perfectly exampled in only ONE human being. Emulate Him, in the eternal world, the greatest among you will be “the servant of all.”

No true elitist joyfully embraces the mindset of servanthood and human equality. Elitism is a dangerously prideful delusion. Elitism has provided the very principles used to forge the chains of ALL racial and religious prejudice and has successfully incited literally every sort of riot and war throughout history. It is the deceitfully seductive lie that some men manage to be born better than others or somehow achieve a superiority in this life that sets them apart from others. The elitist intellectuals who attempt to manipulate and govern this world literally care nothing for the souls or the very condition of what they consider to be plebeian mankind. Their inferior mindsets render them the lowest possible pond scum.The overeducated who believe they hold the winning ticket to life’s lottery of knowledge contend that mankind evolved from some version of pond scum in a fashion so unjustifiably inconveivable that their very thought processes reduce them to pawns in the hands of the controlling sector of elitist intellectuals. The wealthy elite own perhaps the saddest lot in life. They often feel substantially insulated; falsely protected by their wealth which they believe sets them in a class apart from all mankind. How many individuals from the mentioned elite sectors do you encounter in lowly servantile positions at dog shows?

By far the most dangerous of the elitists, however, are those radicals who believe their own created ideals and convictions deservedly elevate them upon a pedestal of safety over all mankind. They are convinced that their resultant behavior is approved by the Almighty Himself, granting them full license to kill. These are the very radicals threatening to destroy the freedom we have so valiantly fought to obtain in this nation and so carelessly hold in our hands this very day. This latter class of hynoptically self-appointed, unfeeling elitists care only for the victory of their mindset and nothing for the souls and condition of mankind as a whole. They have no respect and no love for the individual man, woman or even child. The historical examples I have provided for you today expose the damnable mindset that elitism creates when it is given even the tiniest foothold in society and provided free reign with support.

Therefore I beseech you for the sake of your own souls and for the welfare of your progeny, do not consider embracing elitism in any form, nor admire it regardless of whitewashed definition nor deign to propose it an acceptable practice. Above all else, never laud it as a virtue. Shun it for the hell borne, malignant lie that it is and run screaming from it with all your might. Cease to reward it in the behavior of those around you.

Every man and woman possesses incomparable virtue. Even the smallest child has innate, elite capabilities and talent awaiting discovery and joyful use. We were all and each individually created that way. Whatever talent, virtue and capability God gave you, use it to your utmost to serve (aid and assist) others rather than adorn yourselves with a superficial crown of lies. Consider all talent, all virtue and all experience equally unique, valuable and ELITE. If you wish to find incomparably virtuous love, spend a week with a mentally retarded person. If you wish to discover incomparable strength and coping abilities, spend a week with a handicapped person. If you wish to embrace incomparable humility, spend a week with a debilitated person in a nursing facility. Every human virtue worthy of pursuit is readily available for use within every soul. Pursue the MOST worthy virtues of love, humility, gentleness, kindness, patience, longsuffering, charity and respect and never allow yourself for even one vice-ridden millisecond to believe your virtue, talent and experience set you above your fellow men and women, marking you as “elite.”

Remember, the garbageman performs an ‘elite’ service just as does the president. Given the choice of living without one or the other on a daily basis, guess which I would choose? Right. The one that performs the service I depend upon MOST each week. The people you depend upon in your daily life are irreplacably invaluable to YOU. Treat them that way! Do not use elitism as the pathetic excuse by which to delude yourself into believing that you are somehow more important than they, especially if you are the one in charge.

Elitism is an abhorrent vice, not a virtue. Never mistake one for the other. The defining factor of any virtue or vice is the eternal consequence of believing and practicing it in your daily life. Your own soul is the price you will pay for choosing elitism.

SHALOM

Responses are welcomed at:
sonlit@charter.net.