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I found myself mildly nodding along to this waiting for the moment of clarity where he describes more fully the elite ladder but he doesn't and so I have no ide

I found myself mildly nodding along to this waiting for the moment of clarity where he describes more fully the elite ladder but he doesn't and so I have no idea how to contrast this middle tier with the upper tier to see distinctions. What's an example of the Elite behaviors/language? How would I know Powertalk when I see it? What would an Elite do/have to show their true status? I definitely accept that I'm not an elite. I am "wealthy" in a strictly relative financial sense but I have no political power/connections derived from it and have never tried to gain any. This has always been my personal distinction between say myself and the true elites. Wealth doesn't inherently get you power and I don't really even know how I would leverage what wealth I have to gain power despite this being a potentially viable avenue. Is this not a much better distinction?

krrishd 6y ago
The Gervais Principle (which this article is a riff off of) covers what you’re looking for (and what the author here left implicit): https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-... specifically the “Sociopath” as described in the Gervais Principle == the elite
- creddit 6y ago
  But they're so different to make the comparison moot, no? Class and the power structure of organizations are dramatically different.
jariel 6y ago
The middle class are just workers, who are paid more. The preformative aspects come from competition with their peers. It's why white collar workers are so bent on doing public speaking things, TED Talks etc.. It's hard to be a VP you have to somehow get everyone else to think you're 'that much better' than the workers. Watch the news: almost every contributor is making a performance. Trump's the 'Apprentice' is a giant bit of performance, nothing to do with reality. The elite use leverage. Think of them as VCs. They don't 'work' like we do, they negotiate hard deals with workers and try to grab all the surpluses. It's really just a basic take on working/middle class + capital class.

krrishd 6y ago

The Gervais Principle (which this article is a riff off of) covers what you’re looking for (and what the author here left implicit): https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-... specifically the “Sociopath” as described in the Gervais Principle == the elite

creddit 6y ago
But they're so different to make the comparison moot, no? Class and the power structure of organizations are dramatically different.

jariel 6y ago

The middle class are just workers, who are paid more. The preformative aspects come from competition with their peers. It's why white collar workers are so bent on doing public speaking things, TED Talks etc.. It's hard to be a VP you have to somehow get everyone else to think you're 'that much better' than the workers. Watch the news: almost every contributor is making a performance. Trump's the 'Apprentice' is a giant bit of performance, nothing to do with reality. The elite use leverage. Think of them as VCs. They don't 'work' like we do, they negotiate hard deals with workers and try to grab all the surpluses. It's really just a basic take on working/middle class + capital class.