Aaron Sorkin’s getting a bum rap for his acceptance speech at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards.
In his remarks, the screenwriter encouraged his daughter to emulate the many well-educated actresses in the room*, saying
I want to thank all the female nominees tonight for helping demonstrate to my young daughter that elite is not a bad word, it’s an aspirational one. Honey, look around, smart girls have more fun, and you’re one of them.
*They included, among others, Natalie Portman (a Harvard alumna), Julia Stiles (Columbia), Anne Hathaway (Vassar and NYU), Laura Linney (Northwestern & Brown), Julianna Margulies (Sarah Lawrence), Kyra Sedgwick (Sarah Lawrence and USC), Julianne Moore (Boston University), Tina Fey (University of Virginia), Jane Lynch (Cornell).
Sorkin has taken a drubbing for this remark at the hands of many writers and Tweeters, who have called him “pretentious” and worse. But they’re showing their own ignorance by confusing the word “elite” with the word “elitist.”
Being elite, in the sense Sorkin clearly meant, is to be at the top of one’s game. Take your pick: Dictionary.com defines it as “the choice or best of anything considered collectively;” wordnetweb as “selected as the best;” the Oxford English Dictiionary as “choice part, the best (of society, a group of people, etc.).”
Being elitist, on the other hand, is a different story. This generally implies a person or group who believes they’re superior to others by virtue of their intellect, training or experience, and that their opinions on a matter should be taken more seriously or carry more weight than those of others.
Sorkin wasn’t advising his daughter to be a pretentious snob who thinks she’s better than everyone else. He was exhorting her to be the best that she can be. What, exactly, is so wrong about that?
I’m so glad someone smarter than me figured this out. Because my knee jerk was that he was a jerk. Clearly, he understood exactly what he was saying. And I applaud him for it. And yes, with daughters of my own, I hope that they will one day look to smart women to emulate as well.
There may be other things, arguably, about which he’s a jerk… for example: ?’The Social Network’ Is a Pack of Lies That Conveys Nothing About Our Time… but wanting his daughter to be elite isn’t one of ’em.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Jim.
Well said Arlene. I thought his remark was right on target, encouraging his daughter to aspire to be smart, not famous! xxx
Thank you, June! We should get t-shirts that say “smart girls have more fun.” xx
A very important distinction, and one that I fear is often overlooked in a society race-to-the-bottom.
Thank you for reading and for the comment, Bradley. It amazes me how often the two terms are misused in politics in particular these days.
I think it goes part and parcel with people not really understanding the meaning of the words we use.