The Fall of Man...

After much consideration, I find it mathematically unlikely that we are all equal. However, if you are in the business of running countries filled with hundreds of millions of people, I can see that it saves plenty of headaches to suggest that we all start out that way. If this vague elitism is offensive to you, then allow me to direct your attention over to the heartwarming comments of celebrated art critic Robert Hughes...

After publicly denouncing the occupants of a car that smashed into his as "lowlife scum," the critic's critics had a field day denouncing Hughes' unrestrained elitism. He came back at them with his guns drawn: "I am, after all, a cultural critic, and my main job is to distinguish the good from the second rate... I prefer the good to the bad, the articulate to the mumbling, the aesthetically-developed to the merely primitive, and full to partial consciousness..."

Then, in a text book case of not knowing when to stop, Hughes goes on to say, "I don't think stupid or ill-read people are as good to be with as wise and fully literate ones. Consequently, most of the human race doesn't matter much to me, outside the normal and necessary frame of courtesy and the obligation to respect human rights. I see no reason to squirm around apologizing for this." Not exactly Dale Carnegie material. Doesn't this kind of talk feels like the karmically cliched set up to a nasty fall?

(source: The Week)
("Leap into the Void" by Yves Klein)