Seriously, what?? I saw this going around a couple of times now on G+, and I seriously don't get it. I mean I do get it, but I find it pretty fucking pathetic. Pseudo-activism and Professional Victimhood have no currency with me, and I'd be remiss if I ignored it when it was stupid straight white male gamers doing it.
What exactly is the fucking point of this supposed to be? A few years back we had the Lawncrappers bemoaning what they claimed were "fake nerd girls", because these losers had used the fact that they were 'nerds' to explain why they hadn't gotten laid their entire lives. Women just didn't understand their nerd ways, they claimed. But all of a sudden geek culture was popular, there were tons of women who very clearly did understand, and these asses still weren't getting laid. "It must be their fault!" they told themselves, "they must not be REAL nerds!" And hence, rampant misogyny ensued.
So what, now its about 'fake nerd guys'? Other geeks who do regularly get laid are the bad guys?
Are we supposed to feel pity for the guy on the left, or contempt for the guy on the right? Is that the point?
Because I don't particularly feel any pity for anyone who can't sort their fucking life together to figure out that life owes them NOTHING, and that they have to stop expecting everyone to "accept them as they are". If they want to be like the guy on the right, if they want the geek girlfriend, they need to actually WORK at it, and stop making fucking excuses or thinking that their alleged and probably non-existent intelligence or their vast knowledge of Star Trek trivia means they can be as socially retarded as they want and not have to learn the basics of how to conduct themselves around other people. You know, things like bathing, personal grooming, knowing how to dress, knowing how to act and react appropriately around other human beings, knowing what topics of conversation are appropriate for one environment (big hint, fuckers: talking about RPGs or comic books or geek movies is NOT the right answer in every possible situation that everyone will always find terribly interesting); and generally figuring out that CHA (not INT, as great as INT is) is the most important stat in the world.
If you're reading this, and you're a young teenage gamer who feels sorry for himself for many of the same reasons that picture above delineates, I can only tell you that nothing will get better until YOU decide to change how you are. It's not a betrayal of everything you stand for, it's just figuring out that those inconveniences like trying to figure out how to bathe, dress, or speak with others about things that are not necessarily your own obsessions are going to be a necessary feature of improving your future quality of life. Anyone can do this, even if it might be harder for you than it might be for some other people, that isn't a reason not to do it, it's just a reason to work even harder at it. Trust me: Figure this out, and start to do it, and your life will improve in ways you couldn't believe.
Do nothing and keep whining about it on the internet, and nothing is going to change for you. Simple as that.
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Solitario Egg + Brebbia no. 7
Y'know RPGPundit, speaking as an ex-smoker, every time I get tired of your endorsement of pipe smoking, you post something so reasonable that all is forgiven. What was the line from The West Wing? "I'm not a fan of blind loyalty, but I think a lot less of blind disloyalty!"
ReplyDeleteThen again, if the neck-beards have been reduced to a position where they're complaining about all the hot dudes playing THEIR rpgs, I feel like the world just may be becoming a better place or something. :P
There's a certain point to that.
DeleteI... honestly don't understand that, but I'm pretty sure "fake nerd guys" doesn't enter into it.
ReplyDeleteThe limited amount of sense I can make of this is basically "better looking people with better social graces are, all else being equal, treated better" (clearly true) and "this is unjust" (somewhat true though not to the extent described and not worth getting as worked up over as this person seems to be) and "this sometimes makes people respond to the exact same actions in different ways" (er, only sort of true at best). After that, my comprehension stops, but one thing I DON'T see is any implication that the second guy is in any way faking anything.
The person being criticized seems to be the (presumably female) person saying the stuff underneath, which would make this basically your garden-variety MRA-style misogyny.
Well, yes, it is that. But in this case the guy on the right in the picture is, presumably, also a nerd. He's into video games, comics, and he's smart. But apparently, because he's attractive and knows how to dress and groom himself, that makes him a Fake Nerd Guy to the asshole who made this steaming turd of a pic.
DeleteYou just, like... repeated the exact claim I was disagreeing with, without giving any reason why I was wrong to disagree with it. Again, where is the indication that the one on the right is in any way "fake"?
DeleteThat's what the picture, as I see it, is implying.
DeleteThe RPG geeks who look and act like the guy on the right envy and hate the legitimately geeky guys who happen to shower, be reasonably good-looking, and have some social skills. And obviously the guy on the right is "fake" because he's not just like the guy on the left. Isn't that how it's done? Anyone not just like me is wrong/fake/stupid/etc.
ReplyDeleteDarn it, I meant to say "left" in my first sentence.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you all could have further from the point of the graphic.
ReplyDeleteIt has nothing to do with "what is owed" to nerds or "fake nerd guys" (which isn't mentioned anywhere in the text). The picture may be a stupid example of how we bias, but it does serve to illustrate a point.
We judge people who are less than beautiful more harshly than we judge the beautiful.
It's such an easy and obvious example, I am stunned no one picked up on such a simple contrast.
All we know about the guy on the left is that he is slightly overweight, has a problem with acne and hasn't shaved for several days, so looks a bit unkempt.
That's it.
But, based on a picture, people are assuming this person doesn't bathe, or has other bad personal hygiene issues, or doesn't relate well to people. There is nothing to suggest that he is "owed" attention from the opposite sex, or that he's somehow an "authentic" nerd versus a "fake" nerd.
All this graphic illustrates is that this poor nerd will forever be judged by his looks on the internet.
Hell, this poor schmuck had the audacity to put his picture on the internet in a what was essentially the geek equivalent of a bad hair day, and now his picture is a frickin' meme about how all geeks are unwashed and can't relate to women, or some other bullshit.
Basically, someone judged this poor sap based wholly on the looks of this picture found somewhere on Facebook or Flickr or such and now he is the butt of every nerd joke ever posted on the net.
The contrast between his picture and the male model picture is the point. He is judged based upon no other information than his looks alone. He could be a fucking genius whose the class clown, a blast at parties and a great guy who'd you want as a best friend because he would drive across two states to bail you out of jail.
Instead, he's the joke of the internet because of his looks.
And that's the point.
I suspect that neither of those guys in the picture are "real" in the sense of being, or even knowing, whoever made the caption.
DeleteI agree. Neither of these people are involved in the making of this graphic, but whomever captioned it was not making a statement about "fake nerdery", geek entitlement or anything else like that.
DeleteIt's simply a statement of sympathy for people who are judged harshly over looks alone.
How many times have we heard the phrase "Don't judge a book by its cover" but still ignore the metaphor completely when it is staring us in the face?
So basically you took a thousand words to say what I already wrote in a sentence or two.
ReplyDeleteNo, not at all. You said the guy on the left envies the guy on the right. That is completely counter to what I said if you actually read it.
DeleteNo, what I was saying is that the rest of the world is making fun of the guy on the left for no other reason than that he looks unkempt and is less attractive.
I said nothing about the left guy being jealous.
(Marty Wasler) I think you've hit the nail squarely on the head with this one old chap.
ReplyDelete