The hearts and minds of the liberal elite

This story, from Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus, bothered me a lot:

May I tell you a little music story? On Saturday night, I was in Carnegie Hall, to review the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The soloist was the great Swedish mezzo-soprano Sofie von Otter. Believe it or not, she sang a song by Benny Andersson, co-founder of the blockbuster pop group ABBA. This was a song called 'At Home,' from a musical, about a woman named Kristina who emigrates to America. (This is a musical based on a famous Swedish novel — famous to Swedes, I mean.) Before she sang the song, von Otter explained to the audience that, in the 19th century, some two million were driven from Sweden by famine. Many of these came to America, 'this land of opportunity' — that's what the singer said. And the Carnegie Hall patrons around me laughed. You see, they found that phrase — 'land of opportunity' — comical, or ironic, at best. But von Otter appeared to be serious. I'll never forget when a Chinese actor named John Lone addressed the audience at the Academy Awards. He said something about how nice it was to be in America, where you were free to say what you wanted, or create as you wanted. The audience laughed — laughed. But John Lone wasn't laughing, and neither was Anne Sofie von Otter, and neither are we, right, dear hearts?

It really shatters me that those who might presumably benefit from living in the City most emblematic of the free world (there is that beautiful statue in the harbor) think that our freedom is a joke.