Aristocracy, snobbery, elitism, egotism vs enlightenment

The decline of aristocracy began in the late 18th century and continued throughout the 19th century with events like the French Revolution bringing an end to monarchy. It set into motion the process of decimation of aristocratic wealth and influence which accelerated the momentum in the 20th century thanks to the World War 1. Along with the French Revolution, agricultural depression also hastened the process of diminishing the importance of landed property and highlighting meritocracy. The ruling aristocrats in Europe found their privileges curtailed by post-war taxation policies and social reforms.

`Aristocracy has its origin in Greek word 'aristos' meaning 'best' and 'kratia' meaning 'power'. It certainly has its link to nobility obtained from hereditary ancestry. Strangely, the British monarchy may have turned into a titular head of the state but the nobility retains some of its traditions in the form of duke, duchess, marquess, earl, viscount and baron.

In the majority of countries, nobility may have become a thing of the past but it has gained currency in poorer and emerging countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. With wealth accumulated in a few hands, a class of distorted nobility has come up with no love for the country. Their sole purpose is to plunder national wealth by any means ---often foul---and stash away its lion's share in banks abroad. They are the nouveau aristocrats of modern times. Money power has helped inflate their ego so much so that they look down upon the common people disdainfully.

Aristocracy and elitism have long gone hand in hand. But today's oligarchs are a class apart, who mostly as the first generation, have gained wealth beyond imagination at the expense of the people. But the republics that replaced autocracy or the nobility in power guaranteeing the rights of the citizens as enshrined in the national constitution under the universally accepted United Nations charter have time and again fallen into the trap of class discriminations and inequality.

Making a sense of aristocracy, there is a need for understanding the psychology of the members of this class. Snobbishness certainly marks their status but this is hardly matched by elitism and compassion. If the regal aura that the British somehow promote is not flaunted by today's social aristocrats, it has taken other forms which perhaps have little value in the eyes of common citizen. But social aristocrats elsewhere still maintain an unbridgeable social distance. The arrogance is manifest in the way they conduct themselves. They go to extra lengths to feed their lavish life depending on their palatial residences, highly expensive cars and assembling at exclusive parties.

Sadly, elitism and enlightenment are more often than not mixed up. In the past, at least the elites had a tendency to achieve distinction in different areas of art including military training. Some even tried to enlighten themselves by way of developing tastes for painting and acquiring knowledge. That tradition of elevating oneself has long been dead barring some isolated cases of individuals.

The 17th and 18th century enlightenment actually set free human minds from a mental block. It was a European intellectual movement emphasising reason and individualism or in other words rationality and meritocracy of people. Philosophers like Descarte, Locke, Kant, Voltaire and Rousseau heavily influenced the mindset of people. Now is the age of information and communication technology with artificial intelligence (AI) posing to push automation beyond the boundary.

This cannot be an ideal ground for introspection or discovery of the soul within. Materialistic considerations have overtaken human passion, emotion and compassion. The mad rush for making money has gone berserk. Distorted nationalism has given rise to unhealthy commercial competitions as evidenced in Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff war. How foolish to ignore the global warming and inviting natural disasters in the process! When there was an international coalition for reducing carbon emissions through minimising the use of fossil fuels, nations are behaving either as autocrat or aristocrats.

Actually, the danger lies in this sense of national superiority. Once a madman called Adolf Hitler invented the bizarre theory of racial superiority. Today the same tendency is observed not only in another insane president of America but also a few others across the Atlantic and the Pacific. An irrational president in the shape of an Idi Amin of Uganda had little power to influence the world order but the few now at the forefront of politics and global trade have the potential of starting the much dreaded World War III. When aristocracy, snobbery, elitism and egotism feed the national superiority, it may hasten the process of destruction of the human race.