Something Stupid This Way Comes
11th February 2021
The mandarins of Qing China claimed the Mandate of Heaven. The French noblesse d’épée tied their privileges to a thousand years of military service to the kings of France. The nobles of Spain touted their cleanliness of blood, untainted by Jewish or Moorish ancestry.
In America, no such backwards justifications are needed. Our elites claim their supremacy on intellectual merit, the power of their brains and the breadth of their knowledge. And to everyone’s misfortune, they really believe it.
But how do you prove intellectual superiority past the age of 22, when it can no longer be measured with letter grades and test scores? Warren Buffett and Bill Gates can at least point to their enormous piles of wealth as evidence of intellectual horsepower. But what can journalists do? In the past, they might write brilliant critiques of those in power. But NBC’s Andrea Mitchell has no criticisms to offer for America’s rulers, so instead her best option is making ‘ackshually’ posts on Twitter.