Try to question the generally accepted principles of "White people stole land" or "humans cause climate change" or "we need safety nets for the poor otherwise you'll kill them".
These are questioned literally all the time. Less so in academic circles but I think the influence of academia on the views of the general public is massively overstated. If academics actually had the influence many people think climate change would've been taken seriously decades ago.
What institutions does Trump have on his side? Hollywood? Mainstream media? Public education? The government?
Trump and the GOP literally are about to take control of every branch of the federal government and have control in more state governments than the Democrats as well. While legacy media may still be anti-Trump things like Fox News, Joe Rogan, etc. are just as "mainstream" as something like the NY Times.
If academics actually had the influence many people think climate change would've been taken seriously decades ago.
You're only really proving the point here. People have the freedom to vote however they want. But they're voting against the grain by voting against the entirety of academia.
As you said yourself, this is not questioned at all at the institutional level. So your viewpoint is the viewpoint of every major institution in the US.
Trump and the GOP literally are about to take control of every branch of the federal government and have control in more state governments than the Democrats as well.
You do realize the government doesn't elect the vast majority of its people. Even considering cabinet appointments, there's civil servants all the way down that are working to do what they can to ignore Trump and his people.
Again, this is clearly not the 1960s. Left-Leaning individuals have swamped the government since then. J Edgar Hoover isn't around to be a boogeyman for progressives any longer.
I feel like we've completely lost the thread of my original statement. What do you consider makes someone elite? To me it is wealth and influence and if we take for example the discussion about climate change oil execs are far more elite than academics or mid-level bureaucrats in the EPA. I'm just saying that by most definitions Trump, Musk, Thiel et al. are far more elite than the academics this article believes are "the elite".
Government and academic institutions aren't the only institutions that exist though. Conservatives largely dominate private industry and those institutions are also hugely influential on our daily life.
Im not saying that those things aren't influential. I’m pushing back on the idea that “the elite” somehow only consists of left wingers in government and academic spaces. Why is Trump not considered the elite? Why not Elon Musk or Joe Rogan or Chris Rufo? Why aren’t the upper execs of Exxon elite? All of these people have infinitely more influence than the curator who is considered an example of the elite according to the article.
Why is Trump not considered the elite? Why not Elon Musk or Joe Rogan or Chris Rufo?
You're not getting it. Either intentionally or you refuse to understand. Again, I'm not wasting my time on this, but I've already stated why people think this way. Because they don't have power.
No I'm not avoiding that. I just think Bob the GS-7 working for the EPA or Cheryl the assistant curator at a museum is far less elite and has infinitely less power than the President or the richest man on Earth. Which is a fact you've spent this entire argument avoiding.
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u/wheelsnipecelly23 Left Visitor Nov 18 '24
These are questioned literally all the time. Less so in academic circles but I think the influence of academia on the views of the general public is massively overstated. If academics actually had the influence many people think climate change would've been taken seriously decades ago.
Trump and the GOP literally are about to take control of every branch of the federal government and have control in more state governments than the Democrats as well. While legacy media may still be anti-Trump things like Fox News, Joe Rogan, etc. are just as "mainstream" as something like the NY Times.