“There simply is no clear evidence of any dumbing down except by the most crude and irrelevant criteria. The accusation is the final gasp of an upper-class male elite and their co-optees. They took it on themselves to define the distinction between high and popular culture and then police its boundaries. They were the high priests guarding the purity of the canon of cultural tradition. Even the language – high, low, low brow – demonstrates the snobbish elitism used to buttress their position of power. They’ve lost that, and now they’ve lost the debate.” – The Guardian 11/13/00