Instapundit acu tetigisti

I’m thinking of starting a new game, called Instapundit acu tetigisti, whereby every time one spots Glenn Reynolds managing to succinctly “touch the matter with a needle” on any issue (and he does it a lot) one must take a shot of espresso, or grab a cup of favorite coffee.

Today, I sat at my desk with a cup of espresso (a double, actually) clicked on Instapundit, which is how I start my day, and read this:

CLARENCE PAGE: WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT ELITES? The problem we have is that our “elites” — a reader keeps telling me that “gentry” is a better term, and he’s right — aren’t really elite. That is, they’re not actually especially smart or well-educated or competent. They’re just credentialed. That’s not the sort of elitism that commands respect, which is why it’s not getting so much anymore, as people catch on.

To which I responded, joyfully, “acu tetigisti!” and down the hatch went the double shot!

A little Latin, a bit of Superior Java and some links to smart web sites; the world of arts and letters and humanities at your fingertips. You’d expect the elites, who pay such lip service to theories of egalitarianism, would approve.

And yet, strangely, they really don’t seem to.

They love the narrative. They just don’t want to live it, themselves.

UPDATE: As to egalitarianism, well, the elites love “isms,” too. As long as they’re the right sorts of “isms”.