| Biswo |
Posted
on 01-Mar-01 12:02 PM
Dear Ashu:
>>I just love the delicious irony thrown up by educated,
>aware and networked Nepalis using English and living in places
>like Auburn, Alabama and Washington DC attacking or making fun of
>the so-called 'elites' in Kathmandu!! Hey, a few more such of
>explosive attacks, and, Jesus F. Christ, we can actually start
>seeing smoke curling up in Kathmandu!!
Thanks for so many good adjectives for people living in Auburn,
AL and Washinton DC.I ,however, didn't understand which 'delicious
irony' you are talking about.And hey my friend, will you ever see
any smoke curling up in KTM? No, the smokes are aired by the
constituents of obnoxious elitism in KTM.People living in
foreign nations are considered just intruders in such coterie.
Worse, a few rookie elites would come forward and tell them,'Jesus
F Christ, There are already thousands smarter people here. You
guys are obsolete.'
>> I happen to like/cherish and champion elitism, preferably
>individual elitism, and before I lay out my reasons for liking
>such elitism, let me clearly define what I mean by the term.
>My entire argument springs from how I define the term.To start,
>I do not, N-O-T, buy this knee-jerk sweeping definition of
>'elitism' that one hears from and reads in the writings of those
>Nepalis, usually, but not necessarily, with what I call,
>unchallenged socialist tendencies. For them, anything 'elite' is
>bad; and, anything that smacks of 'elitism' is to be
>ridiculed. [Their arguments remind me of my Marxist friends'
>forever-frozen-in-time fixations about "samanta-baad" and
>"upa.neebesh.baad" and all that "baad" garbage that's so common
>in Nepali leftist discussions.]
Two things:
If you think you can define a term entirely, that's fine.
Otherwise Elitism , in standard definition , means
1.The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their
perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or
financial resources.
2.
a.The sense of entitlement enjoyed by such a group or class.
b.Control, rule, or domination by such a group or class.
(From our dear dictionary: www.dictionary.com )
Elitism thinks that it derserves favored treatment by virtue
of its perceived superiority.There may not be actually any
superior quality in it. And it is exactly how the elitism and its constituents(rookies and established) in KTM tend to think: we
graduated from Ivy League, so we understand this damn environment
problem, this damn Kamaiyaa problem, this Human Right problem, who
the hell are those other people, maale , emaale, kangress.. I
mean that is what is the core belief of elitism. That is why,
elitism is a party that is not political, but is super-political,
gets foreign donations and rant the mantra taught at the time of
getting them, a party not responsible for the welfare of people
of Nepal, a party answerable to foreigners, and a party that is
guard of outposts of foreign interests.
Now the delicious irony of the current Kamaiyaa movement: here
the same person who unwaveringly favors land allocation of
10 Kaththas to Kamaiyaa (strikingly similar to the promise made
by election workers of a left party) charges others to be
socialist and whatelse. Our 'elites' also know this demand is
unconscionble. Does the government who give the Kamaiya in west
10 Kaththas of land retains any right to refuse same demand put
forward by Khaates in KTM, sukumbaasis in Nawalparasi, Chepangs
in Chitwan and Makwanpur? It is ridiculous demand, 10 Kaththa
(almost 7 ropani) is a demand that a reasonable person will
immediately reject. Just imagine how much land in KTM is owned
by government? Just because government owns land there does't
mean that a NGO in KTM working for Khaates can instigate Khaates
for demanding free allocation of that land to them. But that is
how our NGOs get longevity. The solution of problem is not good
for NGOs,the longevity of problem is. (If there is no problem, how
will there be any project?)
>> And so, in the company of these people, you are made
>to feel guilty for being a part of the so-called 'elite', as
>if it's something you should be ashamed of. Even though you had
>NOTHING to do with how you chose your parents, and how you were
>brought up as a child, you are still made to feel guilty for
>having had some access to 'privilege'. And on and on these people
>go.
Again, let me make this clear, elite and elitism is two different
things. Elites are often those who have superior staus in
their respective fields. Being elite and supporting elitism is
different things. Elitism asks for preferential treatment, elitism
thinks it has reach to resources, it has right to deny others
less fortunates such resources. It is all about humility and
authority.
If you are Bill Gates(elite), and if you have a hotel reserved
for you, and suddenly a person enters the hotel, then if Bill
Gates is a practitioner of elitism, he will ask the hotel
authority to take the stranger out roughly. If he is gentle elite,
he will approach the person, and ask why he entered the hotel,
may be he had medical problem and just wanted to make a phone call
from the hotel..
Sorry, I have to go to such detail. All because of your untenable
defense of elitism.
>> Theirs is all really stupid, socialist garbage.
> Let me explain what I mean:
>In a World Cup soccer match, putting aside immediate
>patriotic concerns, people, by and large, root for an ELITE team
>to win. Top universities anywhere, especially in the US, go out
>of their way to recruit ELITE students from applicant pools of
>1000s and 1000s. Likewise, top companies anywhere try very hard
>to retain and promote their ELITE employees. And software firms
>try to lure ELITE programmers with stock options and so on.
>Shakespeare was an ELITE dramatist as Picasso was an ELITE
>painter. Devkota remains an ELITE essayist, as Lain Singh Bangdel
>remains an ELITE artist in Nepal.
Hopefully, you now understand the meaning . There is difference
between crony and cronyism, elite and elitism, commune and
communism. You just can't defend elitism just because elite
is a good word.
Let me make another thing clear: in Nepal, there is rarely
any elite, but most of the people there are practitioner of
elitism. Not a dime of productivity is gained because of
these proud elites.Rarely any holds patent rights for any new
things, rarely does any have any scientific contribution
verified by international journals on such fields. All they have
is capability to be sycophant of international agencies, writing
proposals for donations and bla blas.Once donors stop doling out
charity, they would stop functioning. I am talking about 90% of
such agencies. All this happens because they have few local
support, and very few productivity. Not a dime of productivity is
gained because of these proud 'elites', let me repeat it again.
>> Hence:
> an elite piece of work is, by definition, something not everyone
> can do!!
Unfortunately, the so called elites in Nepal do something that
every unscrupled one can easily replicate. Don't you think so?
>And, now, anyone who can do such work, ANY such work, is a part
>of the elite in that particular field (whether pottery or cookery
>or nuclear physics or basketball), and is practicing elitism.
>That's my definition of elite and elitism.
That's YOUR definition of elitism. And you are defending THAT
definition. Sounds good.
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