We are all snobs
June 18, 2002 1:52 PM Subscribe
We are all snobs "I do look down on certain selected people--preferably, it's true, from a distance and until now unbeknownst to them. Yet look down I do, usually with an uncomplicated feeling of satisfaction.....Why did I need to assert my superiority, even to myself, when no one was contesting it ?" We are all snobs in one way or another.
What's wrong with being a snob? Everyone is better than everyone else, according to some criteria.
Me, I look down on people shorter than 6' 3". Unless I'm sitting down or they're standing on high ground. Then I look up to them.
posted by rushmc at 2:17 PM on June 18, 2002
Me, I look down on people shorter than 6' 3". Unless I'm sitting down or they're standing on high ground. Then I look up to them.
posted by rushmc at 2:17 PM on June 18, 2002
Yeah, and I look down on rushmc, but see pretty much eye-to-eye with jodic.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:22 PM on June 18, 2002
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:22 PM on June 18, 2002
I can look down on Rushmc if I stand on a barstool....or a table...or wear a pair of shoes from Kiss's early years... :)
posted by dejah420 at 2:29 PM on June 18, 2002
posted by dejah420 at 2:29 PM on June 18, 2002
What's wrong with being a snob?
The New York Times agrees with you, rushmc:
If Mr. Epstein is right, as social barriers fall away and more Americans of diverse backgrounds join the middle class, the nation's snobbery quotient is likely only to grow. But perhaps that's not such a bad thing. If snobbery flourishes where freedom and social mobility are great, maybe it's less a symptom of disease than a sign of health.
(Personally, I think snobbery's main offense is that it's incredibly dumb to assume you know enough about another person and his/her abilities to think you can dismess them. That and that people who feel a need to act uppity tend to be uninteresting in general. Ugh.)
posted by mattpfeff at 3:25 PM on June 18, 2002
The New York Times agrees with you, rushmc:
If Mr. Epstein is right, as social barriers fall away and more Americans of diverse backgrounds join the middle class, the nation's snobbery quotient is likely only to grow. But perhaps that's not such a bad thing. If snobbery flourishes where freedom and social mobility are great, maybe it's less a symptom of disease than a sign of health.
(Personally, I think snobbery's main offense is that it's incredibly dumb to assume you know enough about another person and his/her abilities to think you can dismess them. That and that people who feel a need to act uppity tend to be uninteresting in general. Ugh.)
posted by mattpfeff at 3:25 PM on June 18, 2002
That and that people who feel a need to act uppity tend to be uninteresting in general.
True snobs would be even more offended than you by those who had to "act" uppity. ;)
posted by rushmc at 4:45 PM on June 18, 2002
True snobs would be even more offended than you by those who had to "act" uppity. ;)
posted by rushmc at 4:45 PM on June 18, 2002
Yeah, and I look down on rushmc, but see pretty much eye-to-eye with jodic.
yeah, but you'd better watch out if i strap on my swanky girlie-boots. then i measure in at a whopping 6'7" making me the tallest of the tall.
posted by jodic at 8:20 PM on June 18, 2002
yeah, but you'd better watch out if i strap on my swanky girlie-boots. then i measure in at a whopping 6'7" making me the tallest of the tall.
posted by jodic at 8:20 PM on June 18, 2002
The author is in his seventies? Jeez....He does write better than I do, tho.
posted by mcchesnj at 10:12 PM on June 18, 2002
posted by mcchesnj at 10:12 PM on June 18, 2002
"If snobbery should die, laughter would be bereaved." -- Sir Peter Ustinov.
posted by sennoma at 3:52 AM on June 19, 2002
posted by sennoma at 3:52 AM on June 19, 2002
The author is in his seventies? Jeez....He does write better than I do, tho.
"Seventh decade" = in his sixties.
posted by redfoxtail at 6:37 AM on June 19, 2002
"Seventh decade" = in his sixties.
posted by redfoxtail at 6:37 AM on June 19, 2002
I'm not snobbish at all, which is why I'm better than any of you.
posted by salmacis at 7:02 AM on June 19, 2002
posted by salmacis at 7:02 AM on June 19, 2002
True snobs know that this story was on Arts&Letters Daily over a week ago.
posted by fellorwaspushed at 1:46 PM on June 19, 2002
posted by fellorwaspushed at 1:46 PM on June 19, 2002
*looks around*
"No Jim, this doesn't look like A+L Daily. This here's a completely different website."
"Well blow me down!"
posted by owillis at 3:59 PM on June 19, 2002
"No Jim, this doesn't look like A+L Daily. This here's a completely different website."
"Well blow me down!"
posted by owillis at 3:59 PM on June 19, 2002
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posted by majick at 2:10 PM on June 18, 2002