{"id":797607,"date":"2026-05-15T06:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T06:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/797607\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T06:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T06:48:25","slug":"new-york-times-bret-stephens-defines-the-dividing-line-between-elite-and-non-elite-america-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/797607\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Times\u2019 Bret Stephens defines the dividing line between elite and non-elite America \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The old-fashioned notions of \u201cnoblesse oblige\u201d \u2014 or the idea that the elite have a moral obligation to serve society \u2014 have largely gone out of fashion among the contemporary elite, said New York Times columnist Bret Stephens at a Thursday lecture<\/a> at BYU.<\/p>\n

This, of course, is not universally true, he said. But there is little doubt that \u201cwe live in a country, in which what we broadly call the \u2018elite\u2019 seems increasingly disconnected from and often contemptuous of the views, habits and affinities of much of the rest of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his remarks, which kicked off BYU\u2019s 2026 Initiative for Peacemaking Conference, Stephens sought to explore what defines the elite and the dividing line between them and the non-elite in the United States. He also charged universities and individuals to be stewards of change in what is now a polarized landscape.<\/p>\n

The potential for change \u201cfalls to you,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cIt falls to schools like this \u2014 the great and the large universities \u2026 that seek to advance the stock of knowledge and the cause of understanding while remaining profoundly attuned to traditions of place and faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

It falls to universities seeking \u201cto turn out graduates who can operate confidently and knowledgeably and charitably\u201d in their distinct spheres, and by so doing, \u201cbridge divides and break through that veil of mutual incomprehension and increasing distrust\u201d that exists today.<\/p>\n

This is no small task, Stephens noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut neither is it a small task to build oases in the desert. So who better than you, here and now?\u201d<\/p>\n

What defines the \u2018elite\u2019?\"\"Former Gov. Gary Herbert\u00a0applauds to welcome New York Times op-ed columnist Bret Stephens for Stephens\u2019 keynote lecture in the Wilkinson Student Center at BYU to kick off the Peacemaker Conference in Provo on Thursday, May 14, 2026. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News <\/p>\n

The disconnect between the elite and the rest of the country is \u201cboth the defining and most damaging fact of political life in America today,\u201d Stephens told the crowd of listeners gathered in the BYU Varsity Theatre.<\/p>\n

This disconnect is injurious to the country as a whole, he said. It is insulting to those outside of the elite and it is harmful to the elite themselves, which \u201ccan be a great national blessing, if \u2014 and that\u2019s a big \u2018if\u2019 \u2014 they are shaped in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, who are the elite and what defines them?<\/p>\n

Stephens explained that money, power, geographic stereotypes and ancestry do not define the elite, though it may seem like it in some cases.<\/p>\n

The true \u201cdividing line between elite and non-elite America\u201d is the line that separates those who live in what can be termed the \u201ceconomy of words\u201d and the \u201ceconomy of stuff,\u201d Stephens said.<\/p>\n

The economy of words predominantly constitutes today\u2019s American elite, he said, and includes under its umbrella: pundits, politicians, reporters, editors, publishers, attorneys, financial analysts, therapists, counselors, academic and religious leaders, etc.<\/p>\n

The economy of stuff, Stephens added, is \u201cpretty much everyone else: people whose business it is to make, shape, move (and) fix inventory and sell tangible objects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The economy of words is \u201cthe economy that I inhabit,\u201d Stephens said. It is \u201can economy that rewards me for producing sentences, paragraphs, thoughts, speeches and occasionally \u2014 I hope \u2014 a few memorable phrases.\u201d<\/p>\n

The economy of stuff includes \u201cevery farmer and factory worker, every truck driver and logistician, every salesperson and repairman, every wholesaler and retailer, every contractor and construction worker, every waiter and cook, every soldier and first responder, every manufacturer and merchant, every nurse and doctor, every banker and car dealer, and of course, all funeral home directors.\u201d<\/p>\n

What divides the elite from the non-elite in America?\"\"New York Times op-ed columnist Bret Stephens gives a keynote lecture in the Wilkinson Student Center at BYU to kick off the Peacemaker Conference in Provo on Thursday, May 14, 2026. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News <\/p>\n

The great divide between those in the economy of words and the economy of stuff is caused by a lack of comprehension between both groups, Stephens told listeners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not simply the fact that we so often have opposing views based on our different experiences and perspectives,\u201d he said. It is \u201cthat we only glimpse the other side through a veil of mutual and increasingly antagonistic incomprehension.\u201d<\/p>\n

When one lives in the economy of words, Stephens said, it is \u201cboth tempting and easy to forget the distinction between saying and doing, between the loftiness of one\u2019s beliefs and the plausibility of putting those beliefs into actual everyday, affordable and sustainable practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Universal high quality health care sounds great, Stephens said, posing an example. But \u201chow do we avoid the shortages, long waiting times, declining quality of care and hard fiscal tradeoffs that are the invariable byproducts of attempting to pay less for more?\u201d<\/p>\n

The converse is also sometimes true, Stephens said. \u201cPeople who live in the economy of stuff have a hard time understanding those of us who are part of the economy of words.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is why \u201cyou often hear the phrase, typically uttered by \u2018stuff people\u2019 against the \u2018words people,\u2019 that we don\u2019t really understand the \u2018real world,\u2019\u201d Stephens added.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut leaving aside the epistemological question of what really is the real world, the phrase both misapprehends and denigrates what the economy of words does for the economy as a whole. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo take just my corner of it, journalism: How can you manage a moderate economy without the transmission of timely, accurate and abundant information? (And) how do we expose public corruption or incompetence without the mechanisms of modern media?\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Stephens noted the mutual incomprehension between those in the economy of words and those in the economy of stuff is \u201cnot symmetrical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who live in the economy of stuff have, in my experience, a far better understanding of the economy of words than the other way around,\u201d he said. Put another way, \u201cthe words people are much more clueless than the stuff people.\u201d<\/p>\n

What can be done<\/p>\n

Stephens called on individuals and universities to develop the habits of curiosity and \u201cthe free mind.\u201d He said one of the tragedies seen in too much of American higher education is that it has \u201cjoined the business of imparting certitude rather than curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The business of true universities should be \u201cimparting the habits of the free mind,\u201d Stephens said.<\/p>\n

These habits include listening, engaging in conversation with those of opposing views, practicing intellectual humility and asking questions about one\u2019s own side without losing one\u2019s convictions.<\/p>\n

This kind of \u201cdynamic tension\u201d is a vanishing art, Stephens said. But it should be modeled and practiced by individuals and universities.<\/p>\n

Of his own efforts, Stephens said: \u201cI am trying hard to make the effort to understand this country of ours, not least by reexamining my own priors, my own biases, my own predilections and listening hard to people whose lives, experiences and opinions are far from my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

He encouraged listeners to practice the same and called on universities to help develop individuals who learn to bridge divides across the economies of words and stuff and break through the existing veil of \u201cmutual comprehension and increasing distrust.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The old-fashioned notions of \u201cnoblesse oblige\u201d \u2014 or the idea that the elite have a moral obligation to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":797608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,13582,407,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-797607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brigham-young-university","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116577259386162290","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}