Tweeting from the Aspen Ideas Festival, Atlantic contributing editor Caitlin Flanagan objected to the way a Slate article had characterized the event:
#1 calls @aspenideas "about as mainstream and prestigious a venue as any professor could hope to address." You cannot be mainstream and prestigious. @c_cauterucci @jordanbpeterson
— Caitlin Flanagan (@CaitlinPacific) June 27, 2018
Flanagan’s claim might sound authoritative, but it is incorrect. It is fully possible for something to be both “mainstream” and “prestigious”—or one but not the other—or neither! The Aspen Ideas Festival may try to be impressive, but it also wants to be impressive to as many people as possible, even if they’re excluded from participating.
This can be confusing. So above is a helpful graphic for people at future Aspen Ideas Festivals, or anywhere else, who might need a clearer sense of how the two qualities interact.
