I was one of those agricultural kids..-_-..well, I DO live in Ohio. Anyway, I used to raise and show rabbits for 10 years of my young life. Would you believe people who dress, primp and pretty up bunnies act the same way with elitist groups and newbies?? They wrote a book on rabbit and guinea pig standards I tell you! I still never figured out what perks could possibly be had from winning a national show rabbit competition. The bunny is eventually going to used for not much more than an ornament or for dinner.
It's true that where ever there is competition this stuff floats around. But while I applaud that someone is willing to say such things in a meaningful way, as I have seen this kind of taboo subject tends to lead to people walking away either when they see it happening to someone else, or it happens to them..sometimes even when it's just aired out like dirty laundry. Luckily it isn't as perverse in the amv community as it is in the lagamorpha community.
I try to be on the diplomatic edge of it all and this is the first time I have ever mentioned an opinion of it actually. I feel like sometimes respect and hero worship overlap. There are people who are accomplished and that others tend to aspire to. Sometimes when that person may get comfortable in that position and be insulted in ways they wouldn't if they hadn't been so well known and weren't made an example of. Of course this wouldn't happen if no one said such things as "This person is a god because they created the best amv I have ever seen". When I registered as my real name people attacked me for trying to pretend under a well known name...as if I should make up some pen name to enter and write under because that one was taken...I'm too old to call myself some anime character anymore ^_~
I think that could be a turning point and that person is under more scrutiny than before, their arrogance or simple defense could be taken as elitism. On the other hand, there are people who don't fit this at all who just act like an editing genius from the get go.
I had been watching this place for a while before I joined and don't notice a lot of acts of privlege, but when I do, it always caused a rift...as if an invisible mutual respect had been ruptured. They tend to be forgotten but not completely and some people seem to have left as to not get invloved, targeted, or become part of the mob themselves. There is no other answer than to just let it all go, but I just don't see that ever happening in any competitive field.