Republicans' reverse elitism

Following up on an earlier post on Sarah Palin, Aaron Astor also writes about Republicans' reverse elitism. As he defines it, "reverse elitism is often based in a sort of proud ignorance of what the elites hold to be superior. In other words, the reverse elitist listens to Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney in large part BECAUSE the music snobs reject them:"

Unlike anti-elitists who merely scoff at, mock, or defrock the elites, the reverse elitist actually posits the non-elite as "superior" to that of the elite - not, mind you, because the elites happened to have gotten this or that cultural phenomenon wrong, but because the elites are the elites. In other words, the reverse elitist turns cultural envy - jealousy even - to a rallying cry.

Astor sees Sarah Palin as "the classic Reverse Elitist" because "She takes all the exclusive pretensions of cultural elitists, reverses them, and holds her crowd to be the only people who should matter culturally and politically." Astor writes that in addition to being "comically uninformed on the basic issues of the day," Palin is "the classic American Idol candidate:"

It isn't just that she lacks experience. It's that she lacks anything approaching the sort of character that her own conservative and Republican backers supposedly cherish in a strong leader. She doesn't have "resolve." Her values are self-evidently skewed. She is utterly unserious on just about every policy discussion out there.