On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 9:15 PM, Michael Brady <[email protected]> wrote:
> Pound's message here exudes the condescension of the person of superior taste > deploring the baseness of the "public." In the last century, we in Western > cultures have been pummeled with evidence, obvious and evanescent, of various > kinds of biases: racism, sexism, ageism, even specieism and others newly > minted. But I don't remember anyone remarking about rampant "public-ism," the > disdain for the taste and ethos of the generalized public. This public-ism > started with Babbit, perhaps even before, and has proceeded unabated since > then. Writers, artists, philosophers, and others have created a > pseudo-aristocratic ambience of elevated and ennobled interests in contrast to > the mundane and gauche interests of the hoi polloi. > > > | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | > Michael Brady > Addressing the issue seems to be the bread and butter of many conservative writers such as Victor Davis Hanson (particularly in his Work and Days column, where he often focuses on the social decay of his area of California). An article that made significant waves on the issue two years ago was Angelo M. Codevilla's :America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution: http://tinyurl.com/2d8quul Cheers; Chris
