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This columnist is either dishonest or an idjit or more likely both. Lasch's book to which he refers, The Revolt of the Elites, is a sort of bookend to be matched with Jose Ortega y Gassett's 1929 work: The Revolt of the Masses.

It was Ortega y Gassett's thesis that the rise of consumerism and the tastes of the general run of mankind would lower societal standards of taste and drive excellence from the marketplace of culture. The brilliant thesis of Lasch reviews Ortega y Gassett's work and the subsequent history and concludes that in our time the major and overwhelming threat to excellence in culture comes from a financially elite booboisie who, not satisfied with fat incomes, lovely homes and the best of material everything, crave the acceptance of New Leftists turned college professors as validation of their status as truly "cultured" societal leaders, red hot intellectuals and people wildly concerned about nearly everythng on the trendy and PC left.

If you loved Robert Mapplethorpe's lavender pervo-photography "art" such as the photo of the bullwhip sticking out of the undraped love object of half of the lavenders, you are certifiably culterati in elite terms and certifiably nuts in the terms of the "masses." The "masses" may not be infallible but they are better arbiters of taste by far than trust-fund supported Muffy and Skipper who share a well-deserved intellectual inferiority complex and an anxiety level over whether they will be discovered to be the shallow wastes of DNA that so many are. Ahhh, but how do I really feel?

I forgot to add that Lasch's book and Ortega y Gassett's are well worth the investment to purchase them and read them.

Oh sure that's just what I need, more books to read! :-)

If you loved Robert Mapplethorpe's lavender pervo-photography "art"

Oh no thank you. He did however make some other photographs that are just wonderful.
http://masters-of-photography.com/M/mapplethorpe/mapplethorpe_calla_full.html

http://masters-of-photography.com/M/mapplethorpe/mapplethorpe_white_vase_full.html
Too bad he was seduced by the darkside.

It was Ortega y Gassett's thesis that the rise of consumerism and the tastes of the general run of mankind would lower societal standards of taste and drive excellence from the marketplace of culture.

It's either Chuang-Tzu, Loa-Tzu or Mencius who writes to the effect that when a man makes something for himself, it's a work of art, but when his creation becomes coveted by, and produce for, the masses, it becomes mere merchandise.

I wish I could remember which of the three it is.

Are you insinuating that the editorialist doesn't know 1) history and/or 2) what he's talking about?

It's my observation that lately the newspapers are filled with articles demonstrating an absolute VACUUM of knowledge of events occurring before, say, 1980.

Even more interesting is this fellow's misunderstanding of revolutions (ignoring his misunderstanding of Lasch's work;) and that is that EVERY successful revolution is led by the Middle Class. The poor can't finance it, and the rich don't want one.

I was struck by the author's tendency to lie without fear of being called on it, when he wrote: Lasch didn't foresee this rightward turn. Most of his criticism was aimed at the self-righteous liberal elite of the 1990s that urged a smoke-free, fat-free America intolerant of pornography, hate speech and anyone who "just doesn't get it." Uh, that is 180 degrees opposite of the truth. Could we call that a lie or would that be 'politically incorrect' to point such bold falsity out in the writing?