An Apology to Jon Finkel

[ExileNZ]

I've had the same thing happen to me, only it wasn't on a first date - it was after we'd been going out for 2 months!

It was about D&D, not Magic, but the outcome was pretty much the same. We'd known each other for a year or so, we even knew each other pretty well, but the minute D&D came up she'd put me in the box belonging to the dated nerd stereotype of the '70s. Yes, really.

I've had my share of poor relationships, but this was the only one that ended not because we broke up, but because we literally just stopped talking to each other. At all. Ever.

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

Great that you bring it up, it's people like her that makes us (well, me at least) hesitate before mentioning our geeky side.

On the contrary. This is exactly why you should mention your geeky side early on. There are women out there who like nerds. If there weren't, I wouldn't be very happily married for the past two years to a girl I started dating over 10 years ago in high school. You deserve to know up front if you're dating a potential shallow ***** like this woman.

 

[Quakester]

It's a shame someone blames being a douchebag on human nature. It might actually be human nature to make knee jerk judgements based on the superficial but it doesn't make it right.

Thanks to Susan and all the lovely ladies of Nerdland for defending Jon and the rest of us guys who wear our geek flag with pride.

Oh and if I were a world champion at damn near any geek related hobby I'd have shirt made and wear it proudly.

 

[dexxyoto]

I have so much appreciation for this thread I can't even begin to express it. Thank you a thousand times over and here's hoping the wench gets a good smack upside the head for such garbage.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

@Susan_Arendt

Bravo. It's replies like this that show the stereotype is not only dead, but useless.

Men (And Women) can still be sexy/loving/interesting without throwing away their geekdom. Because often, that's what makes us what we are.

And a second round of applause to those who countersigned. I only wish that I could put together a men's list in agreement.

 

[Ultimace]

Odd that it ends up in the gizmodo part of the gawker network instead of the jezebel part. Probably just gawker decided to post it there for shock value and to get hits (which is working.) That woman is probably riding the nerd rage all the way to the bank.

 

[RobCoxxy]

Mature responses to immaturity.... in the internet

mind = blown

Pretty much this.

Seriously though. It's just shallow. Replace "Magic" with, say "Football" and she'd have been all over him.

"At dinner I got straight down to it. Did he still play? "Yes." Strike one. How often? "I?m preparing for a tournament this weekend." Strike two. Who did he hang out with? "I?ve met all my best friends through Football." Strike three. I smiled and nodded and listened. Eventually I even felt a little bit bad that I didn?t know shit about the game. Here was a guy who had dedicated a good chunk of his life to playing football, on a date with a girl who can barely jog without thinking she's better than Linford Christie. This is what happens, I thought, when you want some dumb hunk of man-beef inside you due to your own shallowness and inability to judge pastimes based solely on how 'cool' they are."

 

[NnEtT]

HAHAHA well fucking said dude

 

[Dastardly]

An Apology to Jon Finkel

Rock the hell on.

It's obvious baiting, sure, and there's no chance media outlets are going to "learn a lesson" about this--the more we try to tell them, the more traffic we give them anyway. But this girl? The only way she's going to learn this lesson is when it comes back to bite her in the ass.

Putting someone else's name online in your personal diatribe is a bad idea. Not just because it's rude to a fellow human being, mind, but because you're putting your name up there, too. Nice job. You just showed the world it's okay to make things personal, and you gave them your name. And guess what? The folks sending you that check aren't going to do a damned thing about it. They're already cutting the check for the next "writer" who's doing the same thing to you.

The best we can hope for is that she gets bombed for awhile, and then forgotten.

 

[Susan Arendt]

An Apology to Jon Finkel

Rock the hell on.

It's obvious baiting, sure, and there's no chance media outlets are going to "learn a lesson" about this--the more we try to tell them, the more traffic we give them anyway. But this girl? The only way she's going to learn this lesson is when it comes back to bite her in the ass.

Putting someone else's name online in your personal diatribe is a bad idea. Not just because it's rude to a fellow human being, mind, but because you're putting your name up there, too. Nice job. You just showed the world it's okay to make things personal, and you gave them your name. And guess what? The folks sending you that check aren't going to do a damned thing about it. They're already cutting the check for the next "writer" who's doing the same thing to you.

The best we can hope for is that she gets bombed for awhile, and then forgotten.

I actually doubt this will impact her negatively at all. Sure, she'll be a target for a while, but soon enough everyone will forget this ever happened. What I'm hoping, though, is that people who shrug off such internet callousness, who see treating people badly as "no big deal," might pause and think about the genuine implications of doing this to another human being. The ship has sailed on giving Alyssa a conscience, but perhaps we can stop the next would-be Alyssa from forming. It's a small chance, I know, but I'll take what I can get.

 

[Savagezion]

Well, now she has became what she hates. She has had a Magic card made of her.

 

[deanzig]

Susan Arendt is cool.

And so is MTG.

 

[no oneder]

Who the hell is Alyssa Bereznak?? And why is her date with some nerd is 'news'?

 

[RaikuFA]

An Apology to Jon Finkel

Rock the hell on.

It's obvious baiting, sure, and there's no chance media outlets are going to "learn a lesson" about this--the more we try to tell them, the more traffic we give them anyway. But this girl? The only way she's going to learn this lesson is when it comes back to bite her in the ass.

Putting someone else's name online in your personal diatribe is a bad idea. Not just because it's rude to a fellow human being, mind, but because you're putting your name up there, too. Nice job. You just showed the world it's okay to make things personal, and you gave them your name. And guess what? The folks sending you that check aren't going to do a damned thing about it. They're already cutting the check for the next "writer" who's doing the same thing to you.

The best we can hope for is that she gets bombed for awhile, and then forgotten.

I actually doubt this will impact her negatively at all. Sure, she'll be a target for a while, but soon enough everyone will forget this ever happened. What I'm hoping, though, is that people who shrug off such internet callousness, who see treating people badly as "no big deal," might pause and think about the genuine implications of doing this to another human being. The ship has sailed on giving Alyssa a conscience, but perhaps we can stop the next would-be Alyssa from forming. It's a small chance, I know, but I'll take what I can get.

thats kinda hard, the women ive known(even the ones who are considered "nerds") judge me for the stuff ive liked. its sad that ive condsidered hiding it or even worse giving up gaming because noone can see past my likes and dislikes

 

[Sean Strife]

This is one woman who deserves a nice **** punting. But hey, people like her get what's coming to them in the end and she'll wind up getting her face beated in by some Jersey Shore-reject looking goofball.

 

[Formica Archonis]

This many posts and I didn't catch a single XKCD reference. Tsk tsk.

[http://xkcd.com/796/]

(If such a list existed, I would vote to put her on it.)