Contemporary Arroganceby Johnathan Swift

Contemporary Arrogance

By Johnathan Swift

In recent years, snobbery has become more prevalent in society. These people view themselves as superior because they hold special values and they have qualifications to prove it. The following includes several observations on the arrogant views typically manifested by arrogant people.

New Bourgeois Values

Bourgeois values are values that are embraced by the middle class. Bourgeois in this case means the values of the enlightened vanguard ideas that are currently in vogue. They often serve as the forefront of new cultural movements, such as the Temperance Movement and Prohibition. There are several new bourgeois values that have been mainstreamed in modern society. The most prevalent one is the Anti-Racism Movement. Recently, students at Binghamton University organized a rally against anti-Asian discrimination. Yet, while a noble goal, most of the participants were reacting to events outside the campus, which the university has little control of. Binghamton University has done nothing that constitutes Asian discrimintation. Ironically, many Anti-Racists ignore a concrete form of institutional racism: affirmative action. For example, according to Harvard, the average admission rate for Asian students in 2013 is 8.1%, while that of White students is 11.1%, Hispanic is 10.6%, and Black is 13.2%. However, of the listed ethnicities, Asian students tend to score higher. Although many universities try to distance themselves from the term “quota”, affirmative action is a de facto quota for ethnicities.

Another is the LGBT movement. What was originally a movement to gain tolerance has now become an aggressive crusade against reasonable criticism. Transgenderism is proudly displayed, and any scientific disagreement with it is promptly denounced. The movement is trying to make children have sex changes, even with the absence of parental consent. Although some people are reserved about their sexuality, others are very proud of their attributes and wave it around like a badge of courage. This is exemplified by the existence of the Pride movement; an entire month is now reserved for the celebration of a small population. Large corporations, such as Proctor and Gamble, have prudently embraced the movement to show that they are modern and in fashion.

A third value is the adoption of ideology over fact. The typical Binghamton student will be quick to point out anyone who is not masked and verbally insult him. This is in consideration that COVID has a 99.97% survival rate for college aged students. Many students will also continue to wear masks after they have been vaccinated, even if they are off campus. Since the mask serves no viable purpose after vaccination, the students show that they like to wear their masks, since it is enjoyable to show that they have a more advanced set of morals.

In all of these cases, having the values indicates that the beholder is a virtuous and moral person. These people take two Victorian philosophers, Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzche, and implement them in daily life. The Nietzschean aspect of the snob is that they are always superior and more enlightened. They view the world as a source of power conflict between them and the oppressive establishment. Facts are relative and morally ambiguous. The Freudian aspect involves the belief that everyone has an unconscious self, and what lies underneath needs to be rooted out. People then make conclusions such as the university is unconsciously racist, or not wearing a mask is tantamount to unconciously wanting to kill the elderly.

Increased Value of College

Thousands of people have struggled their way into college in the hope that they could get at least a middle class status, or retain their current familial stature. As a result, many feel entitled to a college education. Most of the students taking loans take about $6,600 per annum. Many of these students get into financial issues, especially after they learn that some degrees are very poor career choices. Yet a large portion of American students are pushing for debt forgiveness or free college. They fail to recognize that they have created their own problems by unwittingly volunteering into collegiate indentured servitude.

Some undergraduate majors, for example an Africana Studies, offer little career prospects. Instead, there are plenty of opportunities in trade schools and in the military. However, many people look down on blue-collar jobs, like plumbing, manufacturing, or construction work. In addition, these jobs all involve tangible value added to society, while an Africana Studies degree does not offer the same practical application. Bearing this in mind, the only attribute making the philosophy degree worthwhile is honor and prestige; it is more honorable to pursue a useless degree than to pursue trade skills essential to society.

The Enlightened vs. the Deplorables

There is a growing number of people who view themselves as more enlightened than the average population. These people consider themselves to have privileges in contrast to the “basket of deplorables”, as said by Hillary Clinton. If a group has the correct values, the means justify the ends: BLM rioters are met with little resistance and allowed to form no-go zones; public gatherings are dangerous to health unless the “good” political candidate wins; much of the USA is closed for fear of COVID while illegal immigrants are permitted to cross the border in record numbers. Rules no longer apply equally to citizens.

Arrogance is a hallmark of modern life. “Enlightened” classes claim to be better than the uncivilized rabble, so they need to advance their agenda everywhere. This is seen in the Anti-Racist and LGBT movements, the triumph of emotion and ideology over fact, the entiltlement to higher education, and the rejection of pragmatism in favor of idealism. If the current paradigm is not altered, then the U.S. may degenerate into an intellectual based caste system, a sort of “Brave New World”.