SummitPost.org

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:I remember being back in Camp 4 in the 1970s.....

We saw some of our "heros" there (names witheld to protect the old and decrepit) and decided to walk over and say hello.

It was the coldest shoulder I've ever gotten, even worse than the time I hit on some princess at the $10,000 blackjack table in Monaco.

Well, you probably shouldn't've put your hand on Bachar's leg like that...

I think Ksolem had pretty much the definitive word on this a few pages back ... people can be assholes regardless of acheivement.

The strange thing is, climbing is still a bit of an outsider activity. Getting less so, but still ... and (I think) as a result I meet more people in the climbing world who are down-to-earth, friendly and willing to sit and shoot the shit without reference to their acomplishements than in other areas of my life. Hell, I work with assholes who have never done one damn impressive thing in their life.

BeDrinkable wrote:I think Ksolem had pretty much the definitive word on this a few pages back ... people can be assholes regardless of acheivement.

The strange thing is, climbing is still a bit of an outsider activity. Getting less so, but still ... and (I think) as a result I meet more people in the climbing world who are down-to-earth, friendly and willing to sit and shoot the shit without reference to their acomplishements than in other areas of my life. Hell, I work with assholes who have never done one damn impressive thing in their life.

And climbing is impressive? I fiugure climbing is a useless activity which doesn't affect anything in the world, except for how it changes peoples lives, and their perception of the world around them.

McCannster wrote:Know an elitist?

I don't know any personally, which is why I come to SummitPost.

CClaude wrote: And climbing is impressive? I fiugure climbing is a useless activity which doesn't affect anything in the world, except for how it changes peoples lives, and their perception of the world around them.

I fell for climbing because I had the great fortune to see a good climber float a difficult lead in the Gunks. It was my first day at the rocks, and I had not climbed yet. I was totally impressed as the guy transcended from physical achievment into art as he expressed his delight at simply doing it in a way we watchers could percieve and enjoy. I had only seen this done by the best ballet dancers until this moment.

To say that this event changed my life and my perceptions of the world around me is a good way to put it.

Blakeman wrote: they then become a Master. Thus, they are an Elitist.

I don't have much to add to this debate, besides this snarky and elitist comment: this thread amazed me with the continued demonstration of an apparently widespread ignorance of the English language. Others have tried making this point, but I enjoy exercises in futility:

Elite - someone who is among the best at a given activity or skill;

Elitist - someone who believes that those with higher competence at a given activity or skill should be treated exceptionally/better than others.

Thus, one need not be elite to be an elitist. One can both know ones place in the pecking order yet be an elitist. In some situations this is hardly a bad thing. In the filed of medicine, I acknowledge I know nothing, but am pretty adamant that the field be led by foremost experts in the area--the medical elite.

I wonder whether elitism is even the right concept for this thread. The OP seems to be much more concerned with those that take pleasure in rubbing others' noses in their supposed superiority. In my experience, these tend to be people who either falsely believe themselves to be elite or are so caught up in external appearances and what others think of them that they go out out of their way to make others think they are elite. In those cases, however, I think the better word is arrogance.

blazin wrote:this thread amazed me with the continued demonstration of an apparently widespread ignorance of the English language.

+1

blazin wrote:Others have tried making this point, but I enjoy exercises in futility:

Elite - someone who is among the best at a given activity or skill;

Elitist - someone who believes that those with higher competence at a given activity or skill should be treated exceptionally/better than others.

Exactly.

CClaude wrote:And climbing is impressive? I fiugure climbing is a useless activity which doesn't affect anything in the world, except for how it changes peoples lives, and their perception of the world around them.

Maybe, but you can say that about most activities. You pretty much answered your own question. It's all perception. If I find what someone does impressive, then it's impressive (to me). If most people find what someone does impressive, then it's impressive (to society).

MoapaPk wrote:"I'd like to thank my parents, Ayn Rand and God."

Did anyone else notice the changed meaning? Damn serial-comma omitters. Down with you all!

MoapaPk wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKV_HTHFjZY

Still funny in 2010. I love their shows.

FortMental wrote:

Day Hiker wrote:

blazin wrote:this thread amazed me with the continued demonstration of an apparently widespread ignorance of the English language.

+1

blazin wrote:Others have tried making this point, but I enjoy exercises in futility:

Elite - someone who is among the best at a given activity or skill;

Elitist - someone who believes that those with higher competence at a given activity or skill should be treated exceptionally/better than others.

Exactly.

+ Eleventy Billion

[b]+ Another Ninety! [/b]

Elite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo0baknLDdU

Elitist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dbLfD5Vjq4

TheOrglingLlama wrote:Elite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo0baknLDdU

Elitist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dbLfD5Vjq4

Haha! Just one of the many hilarious, super-classic lines from that movie:

Noonan: "I planned to go to law school after I graduated, but, uh, looks like my folks won't have enough money to put me through college."

Smails: "Well, the world needs ditch diggers too."

A semantics argument on Summitpost!? Inconceivable!

Inconceivable!

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58LpHBnvsI

drjohnso1182 wrote:A semantics argument on Summitpost!?

Isn't that the study of Jewish people? What do they have to do with this argument?

Inconceivable!