I my piece on lefty anti-intellectualism today, I related an observation from P. J. O’Rourke:

“There’s also a whiff of highbrow in Siberia. For a hick town, Irkutsk had too many opera houses, theaters, museums, and academic institutes. This is because, for hundreds of years, the smarty-pants reformers, annoying idealists, and know-it-all do-gooders were sent here for life. It’s as though everyone who voted for George McGovern was packed off to Lubbock, Texas.”

And added:

You could not make the same joke about Obama voters or Occupiers — or, especially, about Jon Stewart’s audience — because nobody expects any of them to start an opera house or an academic institute.

In the comments, there was a lot of lefty haw-hawing to the effect that nobody on the right gives a damn about things like opera.

I suppose I should have noted that the New York City Ballet performs in the David Koch Theater.