Maggie Wente Overboard

I honestly can’t believe what passes for journalism these days. Earlier this week, there was Brian Lilley’s looney poll in Sun Media.  Now, we have Maggie Wente who is showing her resentment for “elites” by gracing her readers with a quiz. That’s right, she has a “How Elite are You?” quiz this week for the masses bored enough to take it, complete with a convoluted scoring scheme. Here are but a few of the questions:

Your degree is from:

An American Ivy League university or Stanford (Score: +40)
Queen’s, McGill, the University of Toronto, Western or UBC (+20)
The University of Ottawa or other (-20)
(For Torontonians)

None of your friends voted for Rob Ford (+20)
One of your friends voted for Rob Ford (0)
You voted for Rob Ford (-20)

To get some exercise, you prefer

Yoga and Pilates (+10)
Hunting and fishing (-20) (Point here, where is the excercise in hunting & fishing?  Come to think of it, where is the cardio in yoga and pilates?)

Have you ever had a housekeeper or nanny? (+10)

Have you ever been a housekeeper or nanny? (-20)

Needless to say, the higher your score, the more “elite” you are.  A dumb quiz to say the least.   You’d all be happy (or dismayed for that matter) to know, I scored a  +10; I guess that makes me somewhere in between, according to Witless Wente.

She, of course,  continues on her rant, railing against the “elites” in the tea-baggiest way she could muster.  Every tea-party cliche imaginable was used and then some.   Ironically, though, Maggie is probably far more “elitist” than I am, if we’re to go by that stupid quiz of her’s. So, Maggie, you’re a self-loathing “elitist” then. But, that is nothing new with these cons. No wonder they’re such bitter people basically wishing to inflict their misery on to others.

She chastises children of privilege for not getting out enough to do community service. Well, does Maggie do community service? And no, cheerleading for the Harpercons and bashing the opposition parties doesn’t even come close to qualifying, sweetie. Since Maggie generally advocates good ol’ modern conservative greed in her columns, I’m going to take that as a no.

She accuses these “elites” of living in a bubble; people who have no idea how real people are.   Basically, if one interprets her drivel today, it means that we can’t even correct someone ‘s misinformation. If  a so-called “non-elite” insists the earth is flat, don’t bother bringing  them a globe to prove otherwise; it just brings onBut resentment. Hell, in Maggie’s world, to keep it from getting more “elite”; let’s just abolish schools! She may get her wish state side if any of those newly Rethuglican tea-baggers get their way and abolish the public school system.

If you’re a member of the Elites, I’d advise you to be humble. After all, it was smart people who brought us the Vietnam War, the dot-com collapse and the Great Recession, just to name a few. Also, maybe you should get out more. Go to Tim Hortons for a change.

Ah, the clincher!  Humble? It’s right winged conservatives and those in the corner offices on Bay Street who know nothing of what it is to be humble; the very people, you worship, Maggie.  Have you had a moment of humility, Maggie? Again, I will guess no.  But, I launch a challenge. Your next column: write about something humbling; whenever you experienced humility. I’m sure your readers would love it.

As for Timmy’s, why would I want to drink rot gut that passes for “coffee” that tastes like cat piss on a good day?  And no, that is not elitist, remember, according to Maggie’s quiz, I don’t really qualify; it’s because it’s true.  Here’s the thing Maggie, does it make us an evul “elitist” if we prefer to watch our health and stay away from doughnuts which is nothing but deep fried refined flour and sugar?

Maggie, like every other right wingnut columnist, praises the tea-party, Rob Ford or Stevie Spiteful for being “non-elite” or  for the “ordinary guy”. What she, like the others conveniently omit is that the tea-partiers are bankrolled by the Koch brothers; can’t get much more elite than that. Or that all politicians (yes, Maggie, this would include your precious dreamy Stevie) are grossly overpaid and have gold plated pensions they all insist on hanging on to above the interests of the citizens they’re supposed to serve?  Or that Rob Ford was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, being the son of an MPP?

As for smart people causing Vietnam war and dot com and recession, well, no one said that smart people didn’t do incredibly stupid things and/or making choices based solely on ideology over fact based evidence from time to time and certainly, no one ever said that smart people never put greed before the interests of others.

And something else Maggie, in the US and here too, explain how even the ordinary “non-elite” “elite” hater actually vehemently support those they profess to dislike over their own interests? Yanno, like the middle-class and blue collar folks screaming that they don’t want health care for themselves but insist on maintaining tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy?

Greg is right: funny how Maggie, like so many who think like her have such disdain for intellectuals but have no problem with the overpaid CEO or the politicians in their ivory towers safely tucked away from the real world out there.

Boys ‘n’ girls, “elitist” has now become a word that is grossly overused and misused, right up there with “soshalism”.