A few words of praise for the elite

A popular conservative canard is to describe an adversary as elitist. It is often said with a dismissive sneer, seemingly the ultimate put-down when the adversary is demonstrably intelligent, or has accomplished notable feats by using brains rather than brawn. Those who speak pejoratively of the elite apparently believe it’s perfectly OK to excel at sport but it is somehow shameful to excel intellectually. To such people, the more thuggish the behavior of their sporting hero, the greater is their admiration for him. This inversion of values is as despicable as it is revealing of the shallow and meretricious minds of those who behave this way.