Can You Pass this Quiz? Do You Care?

DWill · Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:28 pm

An article in Sunday's Washington post led off with this quiz, supposed to assess whether you are in the mainstream of America or part of the "New Elite" that the Tea party complains of. The co-author of the article is Charles Murray, who got in hot water many years ago for his ideas about race in The Bell Curve . I'm not recommending the article, but the link to it is here. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02873.html

1. Can you identify military ranks by uniform insignias?
2. Do you have any idea who replaced Bob Barker on The Price Is Right?
3. Do you know what MMA and UFC stand for?
4. Do you know who Jimmie Johnson is (the really famous Jimmie Johnson, not the former Dallas Cowboys coach)?
5. Can you name the authors of the "Left Behind" series?
6. Can you identify a field of soybeans?
7. Do you know what Branson, Missouri is famous for? [Ed. note: Uh. What?]
8. Have you ever attended a meeting of a Kiwanis Club or Rotary Club?
9. Have you ever lived for more than a year in a town with fewer than 25,00 people? College doesn't count!
10. Have you ever lived in an area in which most people lack college degrees? Gentrifying neighborhoods don't count!
11. Do you have a close friend who is an evangelical Christian?

If you answered "no" to six or more questions, you are definitely a New Elite! That, or a new immigrant. We recommend you join a Kiwanis club.

johnson1010 · Tue Oct 26, 2010 4:15 pm

ah!!

my head pounds with hatred for this kind of idiocy.

geo · Tue Oct 26, 2010 4:44 pm

I can only answer yes to 6, 9, 10. Guess I'm officially out of touch. I just googled Jimmie Johnson. I'm ashamed. And I live in NASCAR country.

DWill · Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:06 pm

I can recognize private, corporal, sargeant. Beyond that, probably not. Knew MMA but not UFC. Knew Tim LaHaye but not his co-author. I can identify a field of soybeans and consider that the only important piece of knowledge in the lot. Lived for the past 20 years in a county of 13,000. I guess adding it all up I might get barely 5.

Why is it considered such an insult in America to be called elite? When we put the word in front of something specific, it's seen as positive--elite athlete, elite student, elite bass fisherman.

wilde · Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:20 pm

When I saw Jimmie Johnson, I thought of the football coach. But not because I watch football - because of Survivor. :lol:

Saffron · Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:21 pm


	DWill wrote: I can recognize private, corporal, sargeant. Beyond that, probably not. Knew MMA but not UFC. Knew Tim LaHaye but not his co-author. I can identify a field of soybeans and consider that the only important piece of knowledge in the lot. Lived for the past 20 years in a county of 13,000. I guess adding it all up I might get barely 5. Why is it considered such an insult in America to be called elite? When we put the word in front of something specific, it's seen as positive--elite athlete, elite student, elite bass fisherman.

I got 4 yes answers and soybeans was a yes for me too. The little quiz is insulting at best. It has to be nearly 90%, if not higher, of Americans are in an elite catigory of socio-economics compared to the rest of the world.

stahrwe · Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:09 pm

As a proud Tea Party member I am also surprised to discover that I am also a member of the New Elite.

DWill · Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:36 am

Well, maybe the Tea Party connection to this is overplayed. Murray's article actually said that the elite doesn't conform to party lines, that the issue is more simply one of social class and access to privilege. Whether one happens to work for The Weekly Standard or The New Republic, one is probably a member of the elite. I don't think Murray considered that the cultural level has just continued to slide, with popular culture now being just about the only one. So the "elite" might be upholding a standard, in a way.

Forum rules

Can You Pass this Quiz? Do You Care? Tweet This Topic

Who is online

Chat Room Always Open!