[NN] The New Society, Part I - Political elitism

Day 2,709, 15:37 • Published in Netherlands Netherlands • by Mattio
The New Society, Part I - Political elitism
1. Political elitism
2. Recent examples of (assumed) political elitism in Dutch politics
3. Why elitism keeps occurring
4. What we can do against elitism
5. Sign the Manifesto

Publications in this series:
Day 2,709: The New Society, Part I – Political elitism
Day 2,714: The New Society, Part II - New Mechanics
Day 2,716: The New Society, Part III - The New Society


‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.’ – Karl Marx

Important note: the goal of this article is not to restart a fire that recently went out. It is the first in a series of three articles in which I explain my findings after having been active in our society again for roughly two months. A lot has changed in comparison to the past, mostly to our benefit if you ask me.
In all three articles, I will try to keep things short and clear – no need for theoretical epochs. However, I will try to get to a certain core, because I believe our current society as well as recent developments are very interesting.

I ask you to not read this article as the start of a renewed discussion but as part of a larger analysis of our country. Of course, you are more than invited to share your opinion in a comment. Thanks for taking notice!

1. Political elitism
In this part, I want to take a look at a political development that I witnessed immediately after my rebirth around day 2,650. I believe it must be an international one, at least one that occurs in all major countries that have been in the game since the beta version. It can’t possibly not be. The phenomenon may listen to many names, but in our country we refer to it as “elitism”. It is a returning issue in nearly every political debate, though I believe it doesn’t have to be. I do think I know why it keeps returning and what we can do against it, but I want to take a look at its recent occurrences first.

On an important side note: I will not speak of “the elitists”, nor will I give names of people who could qualify for such a title. The truth is that I refuse to call anyone an elitist and that I condemn every use of this word, as it could stimulate thinking in “us” and “them”. No one would call himself an elitist if he agrees to the following definition of elitism:

Elitism: The way of thinking in which someone’s digital age, his party, his position or anything non-related is an argument in a political debate and/or a reason to praise or dismiss the content of his or someone else’s contributions to the debate.

I will speak of elitism and the dangers of elitism that threatens all of us. If you ask me, it is not so much of a political problem that we can tackle but more a political danger that we should be aware of. If we admit that we all might run the risk of ignoring each other’s arguments only because of their or our own age or party or whatsoever, we are one step closer to annihilating elitism and we are closer to the tighter and more cooperative society that – I am convinced of this – we all strive for.

2. Recent examples of (assumed) political elitism in Dutch politics
I do not feel like restarting a fire that took a lot of time to be extinguished and therefore I will keep this short. I believe there is not much need to detail past examples of how elitism got in the way of our reasonable arguments. In the past CP period, we saw excellent examples of politicians accusing others of political elitism as well as statements that showed that our way of thinking got blurred by elitism. The current and then Vice-President was highly insulted after his real life girlfriend was denied Citizenship by the then Minister of Home Affairs. He immediately requested Congress to dismiss this minister, a request that did result in someone getting fired, be it the VP himself. The position of Vice-President would stay vacant for the rest of the President’s term, but it would prove to be just one of many government positions that would be empty at the end of the month. Some two weeks later, no fewer than six government members found themselves forced to resign from duty. One of them stated that ‘there is elitism, but not by political parties, but by vocal individuals high up in their self established air castles.’

3. Why elitism keeps occurring
In the examples above, we see how elitism and the assumption of elitist behavior can break apart whole governments within a few weeks. In a small country like ours, this is highly unwanted as it diminishes our political and societal base. In my opinion, the reason why we can’t get to work together properly and keep accusing each other of elitism is that we are somehow convinced that we can never be elitist and that it is always the other who is only after his own power. The reason for this is our use of the word ‘elitist’ as a noun, as if someone could be inherently arrogant and think he is better or right just because of his long digital life or his party. Hence my appeal to stop using the word ‘elitist’.

4. What we can do against elitism
This is a fairly easy question to answer, as I already have answered it in this article. I, Mattio, and you, reader – we both are subject to the dangers of elitism. Every time we dismiss someone’s argument because we, for example, exceed him in digital age, we commit a small act of elitism. We should judge each other’s arguments and reasoning and we should never, never give up the understanding that each and every one of us here wants the same: to make our society a stronger, a tighter and a more social place than it already is right now.

5. Sign the Manifesto
I have drafted a manifesto against political elitism which I urge you all to sign just like others did before you. The more people sign the manifesto, the more we all become aware of the widespread, universal will that is in all of us to annihilate the unwanted occupant that is elitism, who keeps showing his face in our political debates.

Thanks in advance and thanks for reading.

I salute,