elitist thinking

Starting with a  simple question: Is there any reason to subsidize theaters?

For Uncommon Knowledge Prof. Sowell discusses the role of intellectuals in society, their lack of knowledge as well as their attempt to disguise this lack by self-pleasing arrogance:

William F. Buckley, Jr. on his attitude towards intellectuals:

I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.

Sowell on why intellectuals regard themselves as superior:

They have every incentive to believe they are brighter than other people, and know more than other people because they have been told that all their lives.

Take this into account and reconsider the above-mentioned question. Surely, it is the small minority of self-proclaimed intellectuals who want other people to believe the answer is ‘yes’. But is there any reason, any factual right to take money from other people (i.e. taxpayers) by using force in order to subsidize what a small minority regards as amusing? The fallacy in this case has been described beautifully by Bill Maher in I’m Swiss:

We must stop making opinion into law.

If I happen to like chocolate ice cream, or soccer, or opera, do I have any right to oblige you to pay for my enjoyment? Simply, the answer is no. People ought to choose independently what they want to pay for. If you prefer cinema to theater, go ahead. If you choose America’s Idol over Shakespeare, go ahead. It is your decision, you have pay the bill. And you have no justification whatsoever to pass the bill to someone else.

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