The Elite Type

I just browsed some political debate sites and I'm starting to not understand what the word "elite" means anymore. Clearly, a lot of folks using it are employing different definitions. To some, it seems to mean "anyone who isn't me." To others, the working interpretation is — and read this carefully — "anyone who I think thinks they're better than I am."

The Merriam-Webster people say it means "individuals carefully selected as being the best of a class," which of course is a very high compliment. You would think then that to be called an "elitist" might also be a compliment but no. The folks at Merriam-Webster say an elitist is not a noun but rather an adjective meaning "being or characteristic of a person who has an offensive air of superiority and tends to ignore or disdain anyone regarded as inferior." The way they phrase that makes me think they're elitists.

Dictionary.com meanwhile does recognize "elitist" as a noun and says it's "a person having, thought to have, or professing superior intellect or talent, power, wealth, or membership in the upper echelons of society." That doesn't sound so bad. I'd rather like to be a person who has — or is thought to have — superior intellect or talent or power or wealth, etc. But maybe not if I'm also being perceived as having an offensive air of superiority.

Question: By that definition, is it possible to be superior at something and not have an offensive air? Last night, I was at the Magic Castle and I spent a little time with my friend Richard Turner, who a lot of magicians would tell you is the best handler and manipulator of playing cards in the world. He's certainly way superior at that than I am by a factor of a zillion or so. I sensed nothing offensive in the atmosphere.

In fact, I think people really like superiority and seek it out. The entire premise of sports is that some human beings are better than others at some things: This guy runs faster, that lady can jump higher, etc.

Browsing the 'net, I see a lot of people condemning the "Hollywood Elite" or "The East Coast Elite" or "The New York Elite." They don't seem to like anyone in those vague categories they decry but they're wild about a president who can't seem to string two tweets together without bragging about his superior intellect, talent, power, wealth, etc. They even like that he has an offensive air of superiority and don't think that he means superior to them, which of course he does.

So I'm completely lost on what it means these days to be a part of some "elite" and I also don't know if I want to be, nor do I know if I want to be ruled by elites. I'd sure like the Secretary of Defense to know more about war and how to avoid it than I do and the folks who manage the economy to be vastly superior to me in math and understanding business and commerce and such. I could live without any offensive air of superiority but, hey, I entrust my life to doctors who I hope will know absolutely everything about what they do. The more superior they are, the more I like it and I'll settle for some whiffs of offensive air.