How Popular Are You?

Are you a 'populist' or an 'elitist'? Many people who ask that question seem to think that there are two distinct and clearly identifiable patterns of thought and behaviour which can be neatly labelled as either one of the two, and that these patterns have been timelessly fixed and are universally accepted as such. On the one hand, there are people who will go to all possible lengths to distance themselves from any possible accusation of being 'elitist', to the extent that they have even raised populism to the status of a philosophical perspective which says that the rights of the 'people' must be supported against those of the 'privileged'. This is a motley group comprising of 'rebellious' teenagers, poets, ethnologists, political activists, 'hippies', and ecologists. On the other, there are those who not only delight in being labelled as 'elitist' but who also leave no stone unturned in ensuring that their 'elitism' becomes more widely known to those around them. Various types of people can belong to this group and it often comprises of academics, writers, painters, 'reformers', music composers, thinkers, and educationists.

The reason, however, why this distinction is such an unstable one is because of this paradox : the harder you try to be popular, the closer you move to becoming unpopular. That is, the point is not whether you are an 'elitist' or a 'populist' but how concerned you are to keep on wearing either of these labels. If you are too concerned, you will soon become unpopular in the eyes of those around you, and this irrespective of whether you are otherwise known as an 'elitist' or as a 'populist'.

Take the history of western music, for example. Once classical music was labelled as 'elitist' or 'high-brow', the road was cleared for all sorts of non-classical music to be branded as 'populist'. But the tide seems to have turned in recent times. Today you can buy a Mozart or a Beethoven CD for as little as GBP 4.99 on a Naxos label, and many people have at least heard the names of these two composers. On the other hand, most rock, reggae, RNB, garage, hip-hop, alternative, trance, jazz, soul, and pop music labels start from a minimum of GBP 8.99, so that you shall be able to be 'populist' in your choice of music only if you have a reasonable fortune to spend on the above types of music. Moreover, you can get away with a smattering of knowledge regarding the biographies of some of the great classical composers, and flaunt this knowledge on various social occasions. To have the same level of information concerning rock, jazz, and pop music, however, you shall need to read the charts every morning, and survey the ups and downs of singers and stars every week.

In short, my basic point in this context is not whether western classical music is superior or inferior to rock and pop music, but that the latter forms of music have themselves sometimes become a new 'elitism' which will allow into its fold only those people who are well-enough to buy the latest label every week, and patient enough to keep up to date with the fortunes of singers every next morning. Incidentally, the same applies if you wish to become a devoted fan of western classical music : it will then not be enough to listen to an assorted collection of some of Beethoven's catchy tunes, you must also pick up one specific symphony of his and listen to all the important conductors who have performed it over the last fifty years. In short, then, both western classical and rock music appear to be equally 'elitist' from such a perspective.

The same goes, of course, in art, theatre, academics, and literature. Try too hard to become a populist in art or in literature, and you shall soon be overtaken by others who will declare your populism itself to be a hidden form of 'elitism'. Everyone, it seems, is trying to outdo everyone else in their populism by exposing their allegedly 'elitist' roots.

So don't really worry whether your choices, inclinations, professions, or tastes in life are currently labelled as 'populist' or 'elitist' : just wait and watch, for in another two years the labels are most likely to have interchanged their positions. The elitism of one generation is the most popular thing to do in the next, and the populism of the present generation will soon be elevated (or demeaned) to the status of an elitism by our descendants.