opinions and elitism

People love to express their opinions. I love to express my opinions. I think it's terribly fun to argue my opinions against someone else's - not because I necessarily want them to convert over to my side, but just because it's fun to exchange ideas in debate. But above all other means of expressing my beliefs to others, I like writing.

Writing about my beliefs makes my beliefs seem more real and lends them a form, and sorts them out before me. It's why I write so much about religion - because I think so much about it - and because my beliefs are so amorphous that writing them down makes them seem more tangible. That is the purpose of words, really: to make the intangible seem tangible. But words always fall short; they can never capture something fully. They can come close, but there is still a huge gulf between "close" and "complete".

But I was thinking about it - about why everyone loves to express their opinions so much. If we see something with which we disagree, we take pleasure in jumping all over it. Is it an excuse to argue, to breach decorum momentarily and go at someone in words? I don't think so. I think it's about intangibility versus tangibility, and trying to give things forms and definitions, to sort them out.

I don't want everyone to agree with me. Okay, on some things I do want everyone to agree with me. I would love for all potential world leaders to agree with me that war is stupid, for example. But I would hate it if everyone agreed with me that Thoreau is the greatest mid-nineteenth-century American author. And even on some more important matters - I would hate it if everyone agreed with me that original sin is not necessarily the cause of suffering. I would hate if if everyone agreed with me on what is good literature and even on the use of proper grammar.

I really dislike elitism. Partly because I tend to buy into it. Sometimes I feel a bit guilty reading a "non-literary" book because the elitist thing to do seems like reading only classics or academically-approved volumes. And the college thing is the big one. I have no idea about college - if the big names matter or not - but I tend to fall prey to elitism there too. Deep down, I do want people to be impressed when I tell them where I'll be going to school next year. I don't like that I want that.

Elitism is about wanting to impress, yes, but also with upholding an opinion to the point of, often subconsciously, viewing other opinions as holding less value than one's own. Where, then, does asserting one's opinion step over into elitism?