When did Elitism become a BAD thing?

Because I have to ask, what is so wrong with being elite?

Being the top of your craft?  Having the knowledge, the wherewithal, the gumption to get it all done?

Here is what started this: I have linked with several friends and old acquaintances from high school via Facebook.  (Yeah, I know, what a boob am I).  Some were people I was honestly and generously interested in finding out where and what they were doing.  Some were... meh...  It's interesting, but sometimes - not so much.

Anyway, one of my FB acquaintances send me a link of a gentleman conducting the Rainier Symphony in WA.  Reading through the comments, it hit me that I knew this man, went to school with him - heck, his father was my elementary school band director.  

I remember him being kind, gentle, and amazingly talented and intelligent.  I googled him and found a copy of his resume online, it appears that he really hit the big time, conducting the Presidential Army Band, to the Moscow University Symphony.  As someone who grew up immersed in music, it was a life to be slightly envied from my cubicle farm job from hell.

After watching the video and having some flashbacks to those halcyon days of high school, I send the link to my brother, because the Conductor and my brother were both drum majors in my high school marching band.  I honestly thought Brother would enjoy this slight flash from the past and we could have a small moment together.

Yeah.  My bad.

Brother's response:  "I can still kick his ass."

Really?  You're over 40 now, Brother.  This is the epitome of your repartee?  

How you could kick his ass?

Why was this appropriate? Even in high school?

I asked Brother the reasoning behind his response, and he tells me that in no uncertain terms, did he ever like the Conductor, and how the Conductor was never his friend. I stated that Conductor seemed like a nice guy to me, why the hostility?

“Because, he was – and is – an elitist.”

Wait a minute, what? An elitist?

The guy was (and probably still is) a BRILLIANT musician. I remember him getting scholarships to many universities and even studying abroad in Japan. Why does this come across as a bad thing? He is talented, intelligent, worked hard and is now at the top of his game. Why is this a BAD thing?

Which made me think. I hear people nowadays, on the news blogs and tubes of the interweb, hell – even in my own family (obviously) deride the “elite.” They dislike Obama because he's “elite.” They poo poo at anyone showing any sign of intelligence and the will to use it as completely Un-American.

And I don't get it.

Isn't the American Dream all about working hard and realizing your potential? Becoming better then you were, and moving towards greater heights? Isn't the myth of the American society about the poor man who worked hard, went to a good school, started his own business and becoming a millionaire? Where did that myth go, and why is it suddenly about the “average” guy, who can't form a complete sentence during a debate? Or about the half-term governor who STILL can't properly pronounce “nuclear?”

When did we become all about the lowest common denominator instead of the best that we can all be?

So, to the Conductor: I apologize that my brother is, apparently, an ignorant berk – and that he apparently terrorized you in high school. I'm glad you hit the big time, and I'm planning on making a road trip up to Rainier to see your symphony.

To the rest of you, who seem to think that stupidity is something for you to wear, like a badge of honor, I say to you thusly: Go read a book – it'll do you a world of good.