Faux Populism

Andy Sullivan has tickled my thinking spot. Nay not primarily about Rush Limbaugh, or the Drudge per se so much as what I perceive to be many peoples distorted view of populism in general: Be it the Tea Party on the right or the Occupy movement on the left. Implicit in this point of view seems to be an almost universal rejection of the "establishment" and/or "elites" being pitted against the wholesome, law abiding, baby making, mass consuming, insufferably boring, bourgeois boobs of mundanity apart of the great omegatropolis of suburbia also known as "the commoner". Everyone likes to think of themselves as "the commoner", including the elites. Rush Limbaugh, I'm sure if he is to be vetted for the ambassadorial position of the yokels, would hardly get the job. In fact, one can be so bold as to say that the man has far more in common with the bogymen(Mr. 64 Mill) than he gives himself credit for, understandably so. 

But hey, I don't mean to pick on poor old Rush. He's just another unfortunate demagogue, like so many media personalities out there, trying to scrounge a decent living with their slander.

What is it about the human psyche that fears minorities so much? That causes us to intuitively expect the odd few to be metaphysically "worse" than the commoner? Whether you're a 1%'er plutocratic member of the parasitic class or the only Asian guy in Salt Lake City, nobody wants to be the black sheep. Groups give insecure people the illusion of security. Nobody feels comfortable unless they're apart of some big dumb group. Teenagers are more honest than adults about this, and thus more open, to reveal their id in real-time. The way they divide themselves into jocks, nerds, mean girls, potheads, hookers, Ted Bundy enthusiasts... or whatever else Disney is to afraid to make a half-assed musical out of. Nobody has any problem with being a nerd as long as they have a big gang of dorks to coalesce into an interest group. Get enough dorks on campus, and pretty soon the class "president" will have to pander to their demands: mandatory science lectures, free wi-fi, ect.

People don't like being alone, which is probably one of the many reasons why religion still stubbornly exists to this day but that is another topic. I tend not to trust people who use the "establishment" meme against an opponent in a debate. It reveals more about the attacker than it does about the attacked. The petty, unimaginative, fear, irrational skepticism, and incredulity of the attackers implied logic only serves as a reminder for what they truly are: a stupendous bore.