Little Red Herrings—Far From the Maddenimg [sic] Crowds

摘要

We live in an age of chattering masses, a phrase not to be confused with "the chattering classes.” The latter were eggheads, soi-disant intellectuals, or tweed-coated academics who readily opined on any topic,some of whom actually knew what they were talking about. The chattering classes essentially talked to each other, noses firmly in the air at times, so the rest of us hoi-polloi might learn something. It was a phrase for an elitist age, and it did not sit well as we began to let it all hang out.