When Did "Elite" Become a Bad Word?

So it looks like the long gun registry's staying put.

I really, really, REALLY don't want to get into a debate on the merits or demerits. The gun registry in Canada is almost as much a hot button as abortion is. Suffice it to say that both sides have their points, and both sides are so sure of their points that they'll talk right through each other to get them out. Sadly, this disease is spreading throughout the Canadian body politic: before long, we'll be in just as sorry a shape as our neighbours to the south.

No, what interested me here was the characterization of Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff as "Toronto elites".

The intention here, as always, is to accentuate a divide, in this case between urban and rural Canadians. But I find that word 'elite' troubling. When did 'elite' become a derogatory term?

Rhetorical question: everyone knows it happened when Harper gained power. The Starbucks/Tim Horton's dichotomy has been done to death by now. Harper's a Timmies guy through and through, and I've become convinced he doesn't just dislike but actively hates the latte-sipping Starbucks crowd. Would probably deport them if he could find some way to do it, in fact.

Incidentally, I'd be very interested to know how many police officers (who almost unanimously support the gun registry) consider themselves Timmies-types. Most police officers I have known (and I have known quite a few) are of that common-sense practical sort, the kind of folks Harper's usually quick to exalt.

This sort of contradiction is inevitable when you make a habit of practicing divisive politics, especially the endless slicin' and dicin' slap choppin' kind the Conservatives excel at. Eventually you end up alienating people who, under normal circumstances, would be your best friends.

To sneer down your nose at your foe while calling him him "elite"-- that speaks to a vicious anti-intellectualism that has no place in any sane society. Why, let that strain of stupidity in and before you know it you're muzzling scientists, if they dare to scientificate on silly subjects like, say, climate change. (Wouldn't you know it...)

It's already been made clear that Harper cares not one whit for accurate data. If he did, he would have backed down in the long-form census fiasco. And he's not above pulling "facts" straight out of his ass. I'm still laughing/screaming at the "alarming rise in unreported crimes" that's cited as a great reason to build lots of new expensive prisons. Unreported crimes. Yeah. Right. Thoughtcrimes? That's not (yet) clear.

I hope the elites in this country, wherever they get their coffees, rise up and reject this government the first chance they get.

And I hate Starbucks.