Is TED ‘Elistist’? Thoughts from TEDxNaperville Curator, Arthur Zards
A recent article on AlterNet reignited the smoldering accusations of TED being an organization that fosters elitism. XNet President and TEDxNaperville Curator, Arthur Zards, wonders if it isn’t time to rethink TED’s ‘official’ answer -
“I’m a TED alumni (they call us TEDsters) and TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. I recently wrote some comments on a TED oriented discussion that I thought I would share in this blog.”
Once in awhile people ask me if TED is elitist. My answer is similar to the official TED stance…“partly”. Then I highlight how TED is “partly” elitist, but in a good way.
The problem I have is that every time the topic comes up I seem to be on the defensive where I shouldn’t have to be; spending a lot of energy on why TED is the good part of elitist rather than discussing the positive things that TED does and the changes it’s already helped bring to our global society. When I see public discussions on this, I see the same thing happening.
Why is that?
Could it be that just the term “elitism” itself is to blame?
Proper definitions aren’t my strong suit, so I decided to check the term ‘elitist’ in the dictionary, and this is what came up:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/elitist
Definition 1:
* The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.
This TED is not. I have yet to read, see, or hear anyone associated with TED itself, or a locally hosted TEDx event, exhibit this behavior. I’ve been to TED Active and the entire experience was quite the opposite of this definition.
Definition 2:
* Control, rule, or domination by such a group or class.
This is the part where TED is “partly” elitist. I highlight the term “control/rule.” To foster the positive environment of TED, or any community, there must be some level of control or rule. TED does this very well. And it must have it in order to continue the incredible community that it nurtures. There’s really no room for argument or discussion there, it’s an open and shut case.
Is the reason I always feel like I’m defending TED and elitism because the person I’m arguing with and I have different interpretations of the definition? Just to make sure, I plugged the term elitist into a thesaurus to get a better idea of what people could be thinking when they hear the term “elitist”.
http://thesaurus.com/browse/elitist
Yikes!
Snob, pompous ass, stuffed shirt, snoot, braggart, parvenu, stiff, uppish, high and mighty, snotting and on and on and on. Just to name a few, and the list goes on, and it doesn’t get better!
Is this what most people think of when they hear the term elitist? I really think so. When is the last time you heard the term elitist in a positive light?
TED’s official stance to the question is a resounding, “partly”. Which of the above definitions are we only “partly”? Partly pompous or partly snotty? Ouch!
I think it’s safe to say that many people not familiar with TED believe that the term elitist is defined by the first definition “Perceived superiority…”, while most TED fans define it by the second definition “control/rule”. So person to person discussions and Internet comments and articles go back and forth debating who’s right, and countless posts go out with TED people defending all the good that comes out of TED. All this without anyone really making sure they are arguing over the correct definition!
So here is my idea worth spreading, is it time to official say no, we are NOT elitists?
Maybe we need a new dialogue. “No, TED is NOT elitist, we are ___________. ”
What are your thoughts?
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Arthur Zards is the President and co-founder of XNet Information Systems. He is passionate about making the customer experience extraordinary. Arthur also enjoys carving 
April 27th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
The value of TED is the Ideas it spreads… I love TED talks and all TEDsters. I was even accepted to attend this July’s TEDs Global Conference, and even paid the high asking price — up until I pissed off Bruno for publicly sharing his emails and became the first ever “to be Tedster” to be booted ‘). It will make a great intro when I am eventually invited to talk. When something costs $4500 to attend a 3 day conference it’s hard to say you are NOT elitists. So I can completely get where the elitism sentiments come from… TED Global is held in Oxford… possibly the most elitist places in the world… so I would stop defending TEDs elitism and point out the simple fact of the rule of 80/20. 80% is done by the 20% elite and get over it.
btw, TED, eSingularity is an idea worth spreading…. ‘p
Michael Trout
EDUIT.org
Founder eSingularity ™…
April 27th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
no TED is not elitist; at best, TED may be esoteric.
simply put, those who potentially feel alienated by TED, what TED is about and aims to achieve, are likely the ones who don’t *get* the value associated with creative convergence on a grand, diverse scale.
emphasis on ‘creative’ because the event is in fact an experience of creating (or engendering the creative process as part of a broader mindset) through sharing and synthesis.
back to ‘esoteric’ - by dint of how i am even expressing my POV on the matter *may*, for argument’s sake, predefine my stance as ‘elitist’ - but only because one who may be quick to point a finger and say ‘elitist’ likely either doesn’t know what he/she really means or is simply expressing their sense of alienation.
if experiences like TED were truly meant for mass public consumption, then stratified or hierarchical divisions among everyone’s level of awareness wouldn’t exist..we’d all actually *get* what TED is..sadly, this is the way our society is structured.
perhaps what needs to be further explored (or be made more visible/showcased to the broader public) are the gems of ideas, processes, approaches, theories, critical thinking etc. that have all been distilled from all the TEDs.
then perhaps the perception of TED by some will move away from “elitist” even away from “esoteric” and more towards “educational”
got plenty of pennies in my corner..my 2 cents
May 7th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Ha, Michael, well sometimes notoriety is as good as anything right? What about the TEDx & online TEDTalks, do you think this alters the ‘elitism’ that might be implied by the high ticket price for the event?
Autom, that’s a good idea. A sort of TED retrospective to recap and analyze the development/movement of the effect that TED’s ‘ideas worth spreading’ have on the broader culture? Are you saying in some ways simply the fact that those who are involved in TED are those who are more active in their pursuits due to society’s tendency towards stagnation they are defacto “elites”?
It does seem that the time it takes critiquing the elitism of TED is time spent not being creative or developing alternatives to TED that provide the same level of engagement amongst creative folks. A lot of work went in to building TED into what it is today. I’m not sure people really grasp what it takes to put on something of that scale with the quality of people that it draws.