The three oil execs testifying before Congress last week were knee deep in it. Just like the tobacco guys who stated under oath that cigarettes don’t cause cancer.
What is this? It’s the false sense of intellectual, social, and cultural superiority that too many graduates – by no means everyone – of the most elite schools, specifically Harvard and Yale, display outwardly with an unparalleled arrogance. Symptoms include super specious and childlike self-serving declarations when challenged, based on untruths and half-truths.
Most people have something called shame which prevents them from shouting blatant baseless defenses when faced with highly inculpable evidence.
This is different than the “That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It Syndrome”. In that case you know everyone knows your lying more or less but no way they can prove it. This differnt because the elite expect you take their word for it and not question them. And most of the time we don’t, damn it.
“Depends on what the word ‘is’ means”.
This how-can-they-not-believe-me-when-I’m-the-smartest-one-here attitude is a sickness that must be addressed.
One of the problems is most in the media are cut from the same cloth. For crissake is there no better way to tell people they are morons then by the Boston Herald printing grade school like gossip in huge type everyday and then telling us they are professional journalists and their paper matters?
Or the New York Times/ Globe’s constant self-serving editorials on casino gambling, the Red Sox, etc.
And of course journalists, especially TV journalists, never ask follow up questions based on the response. And then follow-up follow up questions. You know what I mean, a little thinking involved. Good on your feet type stuff. Critical thinking perhaps?
Some NYU journalism students recently started a blog which fact checks all statements made during each weeks broadcast of Meet the Press. Now this is journalism. Fact checking and following up. Not rocket science. Just work. Hold leaders accountable for holding positions based knowingly or unknowingly on untrue facts.
So anyway, hey Paul Levy, you have to go. This P.R. campaign you have running now is not working. I know what your thinking, “Hey I’m Paul Levy, everyone knows how good and ethical and capable I am. Why would I lie? If these people are rational thinkers they would want me to stay. So let me just go and talk to everybody and once they hear me and my magic I’ll have no problem.”
Sorry Paul. Not this time. BTW Paul, have you written a check yet to The Half Man George Regan to see you through this? I suggest your time is better spent speaking with a professional head hunter.
And Charlie Baker, my God man, talk about selective memory. Let me get this straight, everything that went well during Welduci was your doing and everything else never came across your desk. If you say so. Don’t forget to whine and cry like a spoiled prep school big man on campus brat when challenged.
BTW – if you or your kid ever gets accepted to Harvard or Yale I urge you to beg, borrow, or steal to come up with the tuition.
And that children is what we call a paradox.
* added 5/18/10
Forgive me. The above was not my best work. I failed miserably in making my point. Let me try again.
The most exclusive, prestigious, and powerful club in the world is the U.S. Senate. Coming in second is Harvard Law School with Yale Law close behind. Harvard Business School is right there too.
After that nothing matters. You are equal to or bigger than other fish in any pond. A small minority of alumni rely on the luxury of never being questioned much too often. You know what I mean, looking you in the eye and making a ridiculous statement or something worse like “trust me”. That’s what I mean when I throw Deval and Charlie Baker and Mitt in this group. Never admit you are wrong. It works 99.9% of the time. But be careful because it can backfire however when it does you will be so caught up in the attitude that you won’t notice. Paul Levy is experiencing that now.
Fact checking and reporting by “journalists” is the cure, in my opinion.
bob-neer says
Except that I’m not sure the headline is accurate. Correlation does not establish causation. While Harvard has produced many prideful people it has also produced many who are not so much afflicted by that deadly sin. You’d probably hit just as many targets under the headline “That ole ‘Famous University X’ attitude” or ‘That ole ‘Person with a High Salary’ attitude.” Indeed, I suspect weak-minded people suffer from this vice more as a result of social position than education. A better title might have been “That Ole Superior Attitude” and leave it at that. (You can attribute the stuffy supercilious know-it-allish tone of this comment, of course, to the fact that I graduated from the “Kremlin on the Charles.”)
david says
Heh. I am. đŸ˜‰
tedf says
Harvard cracks, David? Really? đŸ™‚
<
p>TedF
david says
I lived in Cambridge a lot longer than you did. And that’s all I’ll say about that. đŸ˜‰
jconway says
Both Brooks and Douthat had good articles condemning groupthink, ironic of course since both hail from prestigious institutions, but they made good points that Kagan and the court will likely approach problems fairly similarly having both arisen out of the same meritocracy. We all know the WallStreet bankers came from the same schools, went to the same clubs, sent their kids to the same schools, attended the same synagoges and churches, etc. And they all committed the same frauds and made the same mistakes. Similarly I think there is some groupthink going on in the Obama White House that made them make many of the mistakes they made the first two years. I think it is a combination of social proximity and education levels. A UMass grad who also served in the Clinton administration, also worked at the Foreign Relations Council, had a post in higher ed at some point would likely have similar world views to Elena Kagan.
<
p>What I think sets her apart though is her willingness to change Harvard Law to discourage group think by bringing in significant conservative and libertarian voices. I frankly think her boycott of military recruiters though does place her in the same vein as other liberals who look down upon the military as a valid career choice. And don’t give me that it was a legitimate protest against gay discrimination, ROTC was off campus way before gay rights became a big issue. Our meritocracy is gradually turning into an aristocracy, affirmative action not linked to income levels allows minorities from privileged backgrounds to get into the elite schools a lot easier. People in journalism, politics, and business are more likely to follow their parents into the same field than at any other time in our recent history. Our Supreme Court is represented by only three law schools and soon will be represented by only two.
<
p>So there is a valid argument that our institutions are run by similar thinking people.
<
p>Paradoxically I recognized this and wanted to go to an elite school to help me get into politics and law.
mark-bail says
but to be more precise, Ernie, we really should be aiming at the ruling class. If that means some Harvard grads, so be it. If it means UMass grads, so be it.
<
p>Bob would probably admit there’s a higher correlation between Harvard and the ruling class than there is between UMass and the folks calling the shots. But to be precise, I think it’s a class mentality, one that comes with the assumption of entitled superiority. Harvard is less a cause than a reflection of that superiority.
<
p>
hubspoke says
Great food for thought and discussion, EB3.
<
p>NPR had a story Sunday morning on “The Harvard-Yalification Of The Supreme Court” that made me slightly sick.
Apparently there are people who believe you aren’t worth consideration for SCOTUS if you didn’t graduate from the most elite law schools. This is truly amazing. While graduation from Harvard or Yale tends to indicate a high level of accomplishment, it’s no guarantee whatsoever of the wisdom, values, political acumen and ability to work with colleagues that I want to see in a Supreme Court Justice. I would nix Kagan solely because she completes a sickeningly elitist Yale-Harvard monopoly on the Court.
<
p>While we’re at it, ever notice how so many Hahvidd grads, – through either a misplaced sense of modesty or an obnoxious assumption that we can’t handle it – can’t bring themselves to state where they went to school? They’ll say cryptically that they went to college “in Cambridge.”
jconway says
Maybe I’ll try that one next time, I did go to school in Cambridge (albeit at the elementary and secondary levels) but maybe it will make people think i went to Harvard. on the other hand I don’t want them to think that either…
hubspoke says
Tardy disclosure: many years ago I earned a diploma from the Harvard School of Bartending. The classes took place in Harvard Square. Like other Harvard diplomas, it was a real career boost! I subsequently went on to bartend in San Francisco, across the street from the famed Buena Vista Cafe at Beach and Hyde Streets (where Irish Coffee was introduced to the United States. All because of… Harvard.
jeremy says
People I don’t know well, I tell them I went to college “in New Jersey”. I don’t tell them I went to Princeton. And that’s because I fear saying that I went to Princeton may come across as arrogant.
<
p>Look, it shouldn’t matter where I went to school, so I usually don’t mention it.
hubspoke says
You are an perfect example of what I’m talking about. IMO, there is no reason a person should “fear” telling someone where they went to college. Sometimes the question comes up out of curiosity and that is when I find it highly annoying when the person answers “in Cambridge,” “in New Hampshire,” or “in New Jersey” when they could just as easily have said Harvard, Dartmouth or Princeton. I get the impression that they teach you guys during freshman year orientation that the great unwashed non-Ivy League cannot handle knowing your status.
tedf says
Hubspoke, in a perfect world you’d be right. I can tell you from experience, though, that when you drop the H-Bomb you can get all kind of bad reactions: people who want to talk all about Harvard; people who say uncomfortable things like, “Oh, you went to Harvard, you must be really smart!”, followed by an awkward pause; etc. I have it doubly bad, because I went to snooty schools for college and grad school before going to HLS. So sometimes I’ll be asked where I went to law school and then get this: “Oh. So where did you go to college?” And then my answer to that question just compounds the awfulness.
<
p>I used to avoid saying the H-word. Now, I try to say it in a way that makes it clear that I’m not really that interested in talking about it. Unless I’m talking to someone who I know won’t really bat an eye, which, unfortunately, usually means a graduate of a similarly snooty school.
<
p>TedF
hubspoke says
Maybe I’m the exception. I did not attend Harvard but I don’t get hot and bothered and breathless when I learn in conversation that someone did. IMHO, you have to balance the risk of someone being awestruck and asking silly questions when they learn of your alma mater or law school with the risk of seeming elitist (and insulting) in suppressing the information because you think they might not be able to handle it well. If you went to a top school, own up to it. If others act foolishly, it’s their bad, not yours. To me, you perpetuate, not reduce, the elitist image when you (patronizingly, I would say) conceal the information. This is not to say you should trumpet your school affiliations at every opportunity. But if someone asks, “Where did you go to college?” just tell them, for goodness sakes.
jeremy says
I’ll keep your reactions in mind next time it comes up. That being said, I’m still going to think about when and where I wear my Princeton sweatshirt.
jeremy says
…because old alumni can be insufferable. There’s no way I’d wear a Princeton sweatshirt on Martha’ Vineyard …
tedf says
…use the H-Bomb, so I think I’m doing what you want me to do.
<
p>TedF
hubspoke says
If it’s mentioned with a hint of haughtiness or with too obvious self-effacement, it’s definitely an H-Bomb. But I tire of parsing how to reveal one’s Harvard connections. Time to go back to ragging on Charlie Baker! Youk just hit a homer!
sabutai says
If somebody attended undergrad in Cambridge, I’m not blown away — you got a BC education with a Harvard pricetag. The undergrad experience isn’t that different at an Ivy and most other upper-echelon institutions. Now, if you went graduate at Harvard, I’m more impressed.
jconway says
<
p>I have not been that impressed with most Harvard undergrads I have come across. Their debaters were dumb as doornails for one. A few high school friends still go there, but they would have been smart and excelled at school no matter where they ended up. One of their girlfriends didn’t know what D-Day was or who Henry Kissinger (a Harvard alumn to boot) was which was quite sad, especially because she was thinking of being a history or english major.
<
p>That said can’t let one person speak for an entire school, I wouldn’t want my alma mater to be judged by David Brooks, David Broder, or Jim Talent thats for sure.
peter-porcupine says
We autodidacts are curious – do college graduates routinely address new acquaintance by announcing that they had their ticket pucnched?
hubspoke says
…along with where did you grow up, what do you do, etc. It’s not always an attempt to ascertain social class as I infer from your asking.
mark-bail says
I grew up in a town where “teacher” was a four-letter word. It’s not so much like that now, but I still feel more comfortable downplaying my education around most people.
<
p>Being highly educated–even if my degrees are all from public colleges (and I lack a doctorate)–around people who often lack a post-high school education can be pretty dicey. That’s not to say I don’t know plenty of folks lacking a higher education who are intelligent, but…
fionnbharr says
Sure, some elites, or people who went to Ivy league schools or people with money have attitudes of superiority. That is unquestionably true. What is far from obvious is that this s somehow a unique attribute.
<
p>Have you ever seen anyone as smug, arrogant and self satisfied as Joe Scarborough?
<
p>What about Sarah Palin? Talk about uttering half truths (at best) with impunity and acting as if everyone and anyone who doesn’t agree with her is somehow a delusional idiot or un-american traitor or whatever it is she thinks people are.
<
p>There is the arrogance of the religiously self assured or the athletically gifted.
<
p>Thinking your excrement smells like roses is not the exclusive purview of the well healed. IMHO
mark-bail says
But it comes in different flavors. Ernie’s comments are just a matter of taste.
sabutai says
Ernie’s arrogant as all heck, and there’s no way he went to Harvard.
bob-neer says
Or maybe coming from the neighborhood formerly known as the West End is good enough đŸ˜‰
<
p>Now I know what the problem with the headline is. It should have read “The Ole Ernie Attitude.”
sabutai says
Harvard grads don’t admit they are wrong.
And they can spell “amended”.
jconway says
I’ve always held a suspicion he has to be a self-hating Brahmin. He is probably Lowell Cabot Saltonstall III, is a devout Unitarian or Episcopalian, eats dinner everyday at the Alqoniuin Club, has an after dinner drink at the Harvard Club, and spends his weekend playing golf and polo up at Myopia. All his relatives are buried in masoleums in Mount Auburn. It is only when he is on the internet that his split personality of a crass Eastie or Southie Irish Catholic working stiff come out and only then. Not even his butler knows of this secret identity.
jconway says
he suppers at the Algonquin Club, albeit in his dinner jacket.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
It’s not healthy.