That’s democracy for you – anyone can be a snob

I’ve been watching the Obamas with some amusement lately.

First Michelle, with the “For the first time in my adult life I’m proud of my country” moment, and now Barry’s precious remark about how rural Pennsyvanians “cling to God, guns and dislike of people who are different.”

And by the way, with attempts to make “Hussein” stick to Obama, who’d a thunk that the very preppie “Barry” would emerge as the nickname of disdain?

Fits though, doesn’t it?

What we’ve been seeing here I believe is a bit of good ol’ cognitive dissonance. Fact is, it took some time for people to wrap their heads around the idea that black people can be elitist snobs too.

The venue of that remark of Barry’s in San Francisco, has been described as the “wine and cheese set” and mention has been made of $100 a pound prosciutto.

Well, now I’d like to tell you about a meeting I reported on recently. It was in a town called Buffalo, North Dakota. Population… probably about enough to seat in a high school basketball gym. There was evidence it had seen better days. There was a lovely brick court house, boarded up with a gazebo in the surrounding park and a large manor house type dwelling nearby.

It was in fact, like a lot of small rural towns which are essentially nexuses (nexi?) for a lot of surrounding farms.

What I was there for was to cover a pruning clinic hosted by the North Dakota Grape Growners Association. As in wine grapes.

Yes, there is a wine industry in North Dakota. I was pretty gobsmacked myself. Google ‘Elmer Swenson’ and you’ll find the story of a man who spent his life cross-breeding French wine grapes with North American wild grapes to produce breeds that are 1) cold hardy, 2) disease resistant, and 3) early ripening.

So anyway, there I was sitting in a small town community center listeninig to this guy from Minnesota, dressed in blue jeans and denim shirt, giving a powerpoint presentation about various breeds of grapes, soil preparation, fertilization, a bewildering variety of trellises and what kinds of wine they make.

He talked about taste, bouquet, all that stuff you usually expect to find in France or California.

And the thought occurred to me as I sat there, with all of us plebes acquiring the tastes formerly reserved for aristocrats it’s getting harder and harder to be a snob these days.

Back to that guns thing. Remember that hunting in Europe is an upper-class sport. Here in America it’s a rural sport, which means common folks – and disdained as such among elitists.

Keep that thought in mind, next I’m going to talk about… watches.