Because by definition you are excluding a large group of people for superficial reasons.

I have no letters but I like learning about things and I have many friends ranging from billionaires to hobos - compared to elitists, hobos generally are much nicer people. Elitists, I have found, are an arrogant bunch and its such a pity because they know how to express themselves so well, but they miss the point of communication which is duplication or understanding, so in their knowledge and communications they leave the majority of those outside and desirous of knowledge in ignorance. If this is what 'education' does it is aberrated and sadly lacking... Anyone outside of their clique (even though they are 'demonstrably more able') has no chance, unless you are prepared to talk their talk and walk their walk. I'm not. Long ago I realized this. It started to happen to me when I studied theology and my family and friends could no longer understand me so I made a deliberate decision to always communicate in a simple way for the sake of understanding. (and my family of course :) Simple communication has a far greater range simply because more people can understand you and thats the important bit. understanding. I also like the fact that they have all sorts of cool knowledge, and believe me they do, they have the letters to prove it. However, after a while it can become very boring as mostly (not always and not all) they only offer and compare the opinions of those they learned from with very little original thought of value. Elitism is a very very bad thing because it locks knowledge up real tight. But as a general rule; if you want to understand things you will need to learn a lot of really big words and use them as is appropriate for the audience... Thank you for the question. :)

This cartoon (sorry don't know who from) Picture: a guy in the plane Says, "it is not enough that I fly first class but my friends must fly coach too" Elitist in nutshell. Not just acquisitions but also insistence on depravation

Well, someone I know as a relative of sorts is an elitist. They've chosen not to attend their own immediate family member's significant birthday celebration due to instead choosing to go to another event (non-birthday) in another state that will provide them excellent opportunities to 'schmooze' potential colleagues and rub shoulders with potential clients - yes, they are a lawyer but I'm not saying just because of their chosen profession - in my work I associate with a reasonable amount of lawyers and even the opposing ones are pretty nice, down to earth people. Elitists also enjoy the fact that they are 'better than' or 'above' people. And this means that in order for them to enjoy this form of self-appointed status, someone else must suffer. It's like a really skewed version of darwinism - survival of the most uppity or something like that. There's nothing wrong with having standards, mind you, just as long as those standards don't require the sufferance of others.

it's not such a bad thing. I should know, I'm better than everyone. :P j/k

G'day doubly Ugly, Thank you for your question. Being part of an elite in itself is not a bad thing. Would we rather have the doctor treating a loved one be the best trained he could be or no smarter than the average joe? Would we want the best lawyer defending us or a bush lawyer? However, being arrogant or snobbish is a bad thing and this is the meaning that elitist is coming to have. Regards