Elitists and Mediocrity

It amazes and saddens me that our country has such contempt for the elite. We embrace and even brag about our mediocrity and ineptitude. I remember during the most recent presidential election, Republican Candidate and Crazy Person, Rick Santorum derided President Obama for wanting everyone to go to college, calling him an “elitist”. As if that is a negative term. That’s like calling someone you don’t like a “nice person” and expecting them to get hurt.

This point has been made by many people before, and I’m hardly breaking new ground here. If you have a serious illness, do you want to be treated by the best doctor, or a doctor that’s just good enough? Do you want our military to be the best, or just acceptable?

We should strive to be elite, not mock them for it. Here’s the point. When average people see better people, they feel insecure. Rather than try to be better (which requires that work thing), just criticize the better person. And other average people cheer. Fuck the man.

Why do you think we have shows advertising our species’ mental inadequacy? Why the fuck is Honey Boo Boo on TV, let alone POPULAR? Well she represents us. The common people. The people that aren’t smart enough to do anything. We’re the worker bees, mad at the queen.

It makes me seriously question how we’re the dominant species on the planet. Then I remember that the reason why, is because we have elite people doing all the work. Do you think the medical researchers that are curing diseases are just average? No. They’re elite and their cures affect the lowest of us. The engineers that are sending private citizens to space? They’re elite and because of their work, the dumbest of us may one day get to explore the universe.

We need to imitate the elite, not scorn them. We need to use them as the model for our success, instead of instantly dismissing them as “lucky”. I’m sure there are a lot of lucky people out there, but why let that limit our own hard work? Why not try to do as much great work as them without the luck?

Finally, we need to discard those who are holding us back. They are the proverbial rotten apple, impeding our progress. Many people would use this to cause some nationalism, but America has plenty of that. Let’s move beyond that and work towards humanity’s future, and not just one country’s.

Help all of us by helping yourself. Go after what you want. Since you’re going to put the work in, you might as well be the best at it. Sure, it’s just a little more work. More studying. Less fun in the now. The reward is in the future. When you are a millionaire, or on magazine covers, will you really be sad that you didn’t get to party that one night back in college?

We can do better. So let’s stop stalling, and do it. We’re worth it. More importantly, YOU deserve it. All of you. Don’t settle for what your fathers have done. Don’t let yourself get stuck in the rut of mediocrity.