I also found this sentence to be oddly self-aggrandizing. He has determined that only cultured elites like himself are interested in knowing what's going on in

I also found this sentence to be oddly self-aggrandizing. He has determined that only cultured elites like himself are interested in knowing what's going on in the world, apparently. Even if all only people who are affluent, highly educated, privileged (aren't all affluent people privileged?), and middle-aged or older read the news, that's still way more people than care about art. Plenty of people I know who fit these criteria don't care at all about art, but definitely read the news.