Why I Decided to Become an Elitist

[Skivvy]

Barack Obama could post in the 'what do you do for a living?' thread saying POTUS and someone would get all huffy about how that dude is just rubbing his ego in people's faces.

In a thread that has become a semantic fight over what elite and elitist mean, a raider says "I consider myself in the elite class because only 2.7% of the server beat fcob and I'm one of them as an objective measure of my status as elite", but that simple statement of fact used to back up an argument (about a definition) is taken as an egotistical attack. This is what we're talking about.

Ah yes, but would the President come here and make a long speech about how he is an Elitist, and that those in lower positions just don't try hard enough and want things handed to them, and proceed to drone on about all these exaggerated behaviors of those below him?

I can see that ending well. Much like this thread.

The entire point is the "common usage" in this context is using the word with a specific bias attached to it. The word, by definition, carries no explicit bias and can, as the op is saying, be used in a non-negative manner. The bias itself is the problem. Not the meaning of the word elitist. The bias itself is a specific prejudice. Prejudice, historically, is awful. Anyone arguing for the continuation of this bias is simply propagating a negative prejudice. This does no good for anyone what-so-ever. We should always fight prejudice tooth and nail. Not roll over because that's just how things are. The only way to remove the prejudice is to take the word back just as the OP is trying to do. African American men took the N-word back generations ago. It is the exact same concept at play here.

Simply accepting the prejudice does nothing to fix it.

It's sad how many people in this thread are fighting tooth and nail to propagate a prejudiced world view. We as a species should be trying to overcome this. Not remain actively complacent in using words that divide us as a people. Prejudice is the tool of hate and the people who spread it the wielder of hate.

It's a bit ridiculous to write off the common usage of a word in a very specific community. We are gamers, typing on a gaming forum, and I'm pretty sure you know how gamers typically use the term "elitist". What is all this fluff about fighting tooth and nail to propagate a prejudiced world view of a word? Good looooord. Whether or not you approve, this is the meaning that the community as a whole has chosen.