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"Metropolitan elite"

TheTruth1983TheTruth1983 Posts: 13,462
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in General Discussion #1
Is it just me or is this a nonsense phrase made up by lazy journalists who would most likely fit the description if it meant anything?

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  • BanglaRoadBanglaRoad Posts: 57,585
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    #2
    TheTruth1983 wrote: »
    Is it just me or is this a nonsense phrase made up by lazy journalists who would most likely fit the description if it meant anything?

    Not sure but it certainly gets used a lot on the Politics board by one poster in particular.
  • ElyanElyan Posts: 8,781
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    #3
    Yuppies

    "Oh yah, thanks for inviting us 'round. Cassandra and I have just been to a Palestinian film festival at the screen on the green. It was wonderful. Pass the asparagus will you ?......God I feel so guity eating this after seeing so many homeless people in those photos David brought back from Addis Ababa.."
  • Mark39LondonMark39London Posts: 3,977
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    #4
    Yes, it's just the latest 'fashionable' phrase to use in some circles. It's as meaningless as most.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 68,508
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    #5
    Elyan wrote: »
    Yuppies

    "Oh yah, thanks for inviting us 'round. Cassandra and I have just been to a Palestinian film festival at the screen on the green. It was wonderful. Pass the asparagus will you ?......God I feel so guity eating this after seeing so many homeless people in those photos David brought back from Addis Ababa.."

    I hope that's a parody (of a parody).

    I think it is terribly lazy stereotyping to talk of an 'urban elite', as if those who live outside the cities are all salt of the earth types who eat nothing but turnips and **** end of scrag. It is characteristic of life in big cities that rich and poor still live pretty close together; I know of roads in London which have council flats on one side and million pound plus houses on the other side.

    'Urban elite' is sometimes used as a fatuous alternative to 'liberal'. For example, tell some people that you live in an area with one of the highest proportions of immigrants in the UK and they sneer that it is all right for you, as one of the urban elite in your bubble. Obviously it is far more real and authentic to get your knowledge about immigration from the tabloids instead of from real life.
  • PedroPedro Posts: 9,911
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    #6
    Self satisfied Utopian Fantasists is probably a more appropriate description. Whatever you care to call them and wherever they may live they are a handful of quasi-intellectual narcissists who know the theory of everything and the practice of nothing.
  • HildaonplutoHildaonpluto Posts: 37,697
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    #7
    Its lazy and cheap shorthand for lazy and cheap journalists and politicians who just want people to react to the concept and not think.It denotes a caricature and is an insult overused as to become meaningless.

    Journalists and tory politicians in particular calling other people the metropolitan elite is just laughable beyond words.
  • ohglobbitsohglobbits Posts: 4,481
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    #8
    Elyan wrote: »
    Yuppies

    "Oh yah, thanks for inviting us 'round. Cassandra and I have just been to a Palestinian film festival at the screen on the green. It was wonderful. Pass the asparagus will you ?......God I feel so guity eating this after seeing so many homeless people in those photos David brought back from Addis Ababa.."
    Bremner, Bird and Fortune did parodies like this.
  • CravenHavenCravenHaven Posts: 13,953
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    #9
    I don't like the Metropolitan. I like the Pistachio flavour.
  • I, CandyI, Candy Posts: 3,710
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    #10
    As far as I understand it's a term used to describe middle-class, London-based supporters of the mainstream Westminster political parties, especially New Labour. Its usage seems to be particularly favoured by UKIP voters.
  • WombatDeathWombatDeath Posts: 4,723
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    #11
    It's an odd phrase. Is it wrong to be a member of the rural elite or the metropolitan poor, or is it the combination of elite and metropolitan that's the problem?
  • bookcoverbookcover Posts: 6,216
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    #12
    Just reminds me of Batman and Robin, or Del Boy and Rodney doing their civic duty, to be honest. :p
  • pickwickpickwick Posts: 25,739
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    #13
    WombatDeath wrote: »
    It's an odd phrase. Is it wrong to be a member of the rural elite or the metropolitan poor, or is it the combination of elite and metropolitan that's the problem?
    It's a way to get round the whole "People in cities, which have much higher immigration than UKIP-voting non-urban areas, don't care much about immigration" problem. It must be because they're ivory tower yoghurt-knitting elitists! Not because they actually live with it and it's fine.
  • swingalegswingaleg Posts: 103,111
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    #14
    I always think it means 'people who can spell and hold down a decent job'

    Part of the anti-intellectualism of the far right.............
  • TheTruth1983TheTruth1983 Posts: 13,462
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    #15
    swingaleg wrote: »
    I always think it means 'people who can spell and hold down a decent job'

    Part of the anti-intellectualism of the far right.............

    Anti-intellectualism does seem to be pretty endemic to our society. Mostly among those most socially conservative (especially religiously so), I must admit.
  • SJ_MentalSJ_Mental Posts: 16,138
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    #16
    CravenHaven wrote: »
    I don't like the Metropolitan. I like the Pistachio flavour.

    I am a down to earth raspberry ripple guy myself >.>
  • TheTruth1983TheTruth1983 Posts: 13,462
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    #17
    SJ_Mental wrote: »
    I am a down to earth raspberry ripple guy myself >.>

    Hard to beat good old plain vanilla :p
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