A Portrait of Elitist Existence
Tucked in a little corner of an unmarked road leading into a plain-looking residential neighborhood, a little unassuming row of shops greets guests who may or may not intentionally drove down the one-way street. At once lost and disoriented, the visitors would be rather surprised that a classy decor in a neat little room would even exist in such a place. "A brother of a model opened up the place," the author was told as he sat down to have a meal in a shop specializing in crepes. Despite it being lunch hours on the weekend, the shop seemed empty, with a few quietly chatting away, generating a relaxing ambiance.
Surely many would not know about the place. There is no marketing, only word of mouth...for a type of food best described as something destined for the niche market. It is, well, not particularly functional. Beautiful and delicious they might be, these crepes, at the price tag and the small portions, would evoke frowns among the not-so-cosmopolitan majority of Malaysians. There is absolutely no denying that the place is a rich people's hangout, no matter how their frequenters would explain otherwise. Without affording journeys to farthest corners of the world, who would have a taste for such exotic foods?
Being an elite is not so much having much money as it is a different mentality from the majority. Having bottomless wallets do not mean much if their owners have no taste for the ideas and tastes carefully and strategically implanted into the expensive products that have gradually became the symbols of being wealthy. What can the elites afford are not so much many things, but different things. They can afford to think about different topics that common people do not have the time, the knowledge, or the interest to do, allowing them to accumulate a set of philosophies that are proudly distinct from the average Joe and Jane's.
Once upon a time, these Joes and Janes coveted the philosophies of the elites. For them, it was a sign of sophistication, a denotation that they have made it to the top echelons of social hierarchies and get to flaunt their personal success. But recent years have seen so much backlash against the elites in ways that have called into question the values of even wanting to become one. Nowhere has this been more the case as in Taiwan, where months of popular protests are, above all, targeted against the political and business elites of the island who have place their own enrichment before perceived sense of independent identity.
That spirit of anti-elitism has now blown into the latest round of municipal elections under way in Taipei. Sean Lien, the candidate for the incumbent Kuomintang, is known to be a descendant of the political establishment, with a father that reigned as Vice President, and multiple family members running successful businesses. Yet, instead of distancing himself from his elitist background, Lien has made number of commentaries that inadvertently betrayed the luxuries at which he was raised and now lives in, thus, as a result, angered a whole set of voters struggling in Taiwan's not so healthy economic conditions.
To be honest, his main rival Ko Wen-je, a career medical doctor with no political affiliation and little political experience, should not particularly inspire confidence in running the island's political and economic heart. If anything, the voters' irritation toward Lien, an obvious representation of the despised elite class with disproportionate control of Taiwan's wealth, is the main advantage held by Ko. The author is glad that for once, the cross-Strait relations factor has played a minor role in Taiwanese elections, in ways that allow, even if indirectly, the question of long-skewed distribution of wealth to take the front seat.
The next step, then, is to ensure that this anti-elitist energy is channeled in productive ways. It is not enough to sweep the elites out of office if the conditions that allowed elites to become what they are have not been dismantled. A society that only allow a selected few to be exposed to the delicacy that is crepes, for instance, can never stamp out creation of self-absorbed elites and consequently, anti-elitist tendencies. Democracy does not solve the problem if the elites are still worshiped loyally, if even only in small quarters. Instead, social inclusion and cosmopolitan exposure must be spread with consistent effort.
Unfortunately, Taiwanese politics, and its Malaysian counterpart, full of racially charged (but economically justified) oratories, cannot yet inspire confidence. The elites, whether it be Sean Lien who is bumbling through insensitive comments to the poor, or the diners at a remote crepe shop like the author, have their own stake in helping to spread opportunities, knowledge, and sophistication to a wider audience. Being proud of privileged background only push others away that ultimately, hurts the unity of the society as a whole and the interest of the elites themselves more than anything else.
Surely many would not know about the place. There is no marketing, only word of mouth...for a type of food best described as something destined for the niche market. It is, well, not particularly functional. Beautiful and delicious they might be, these crepes, at the price tag and the small portions, would evoke frowns among the not-so-cosmopolitan majority of Malaysians. There is absolutely no denying that the place is a rich people's hangout, no matter how their frequenters would explain otherwise. Without affording journeys to farthest corners of the world, who would have a taste for such exotic foods?
Being an elite is not so much having much money as it is a different mentality from the majority. Having bottomless wallets do not mean much if their owners have no taste for the ideas and tastes carefully and strategically implanted into the expensive products that have gradually became the symbols of being wealthy. What can the elites afford are not so much many things, but different things. They can afford to think about different topics that common people do not have the time, the knowledge, or the interest to do, allowing them to accumulate a set of philosophies that are proudly distinct from the average Joe and Jane's.
Once upon a time, these Joes and Janes coveted the philosophies of the elites. For them, it was a sign of sophistication, a denotation that they have made it to the top echelons of social hierarchies and get to flaunt their personal success. But recent years have seen so much backlash against the elites in ways that have called into question the values of even wanting to become one. Nowhere has this been more the case as in Taiwan, where months of popular protests are, above all, targeted against the political and business elites of the island who have place their own enrichment before perceived sense of independent identity.
That spirit of anti-elitism has now blown into the latest round of municipal elections under way in Taipei. Sean Lien, the candidate for the incumbent Kuomintang, is known to be a descendant of the political establishment, with a father that reigned as Vice President, and multiple family members running successful businesses. Yet, instead of distancing himself from his elitist background, Lien has made number of commentaries that inadvertently betrayed the luxuries at which he was raised and now lives in, thus, as a result, angered a whole set of voters struggling in Taiwan's not so healthy economic conditions.
To be honest, his main rival Ko Wen-je, a career medical doctor with no political affiliation and little political experience, should not particularly inspire confidence in running the island's political and economic heart. If anything, the voters' irritation toward Lien, an obvious representation of the despised elite class with disproportionate control of Taiwan's wealth, is the main advantage held by Ko. The author is glad that for once, the cross-Strait relations factor has played a minor role in Taiwanese elections, in ways that allow, even if indirectly, the question of long-skewed distribution of wealth to take the front seat.
The next step, then, is to ensure that this anti-elitist energy is channeled in productive ways. It is not enough to sweep the elites out of office if the conditions that allowed elites to become what they are have not been dismantled. A society that only allow a selected few to be exposed to the delicacy that is crepes, for instance, can never stamp out creation of self-absorbed elites and consequently, anti-elitist tendencies. Democracy does not solve the problem if the elites are still worshiped loyally, if even only in small quarters. Instead, social inclusion and cosmopolitan exposure must be spread with consistent effort.
Unfortunately, Taiwanese politics, and its Malaysian counterpart, full of racially charged (but economically justified) oratories, cannot yet inspire confidence. The elites, whether it be Sean Lien who is bumbling through insensitive comments to the poor, or the diners at a remote crepe shop like the author, have their own stake in helping to spread opportunities, knowledge, and sophistication to a wider audience. Being proud of privileged background only push others away that ultimately, hurts the unity of the society as a whole and the interest of the elites themselves more than anything else.
Comments
Post a Comment