MovieBob said:
Words for Nerds
Bob would like to speak to some of you about your behavior.
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Interesting, interesting. I might disagree with the "long post" thing... but that's just a personal bias of mine. I find discussion to be, in and of itself, a worthwhile thing. Even if it's about something stupid and pointless - lifting weights is "pointless" in abstract, but it exercises useful muscles that can be applied to other tasks, no?
And I agree that we're all at fault for the "nerds can't be bullies," or "women can't be sexist," or "minorities can't be racist" mentality. As nerds, we root for the perceived underdog, right or wrong -- and everyone sees his/her own as the "underdogs." When we look to judge someone's behavior, we tend to look at how many people he/she has on his/her side, rather than looking at
the behavior and judging it on its own.
And then there's this:
EverythingIncredible said:
I hate to say it, but you're doing it wrong.
I get that this is kind of your job right now. But you need to stop taking the internet culture so seriously. It's not meant to be taken seriously. Everything here is in good fun. Even if it can appear mean spirited to certain groups of people.
Bob's point, it seems to me, is that we have to really wonder about ourselves if we consider this "mean-spirited" stuff to be good fun. I mean... isn't that
exactly what bullies do? They pick on the kid with glasses... not because they
really hate glasses, or even that kid, but because they get some catharsis out of the kid's reaction to the teasing. Bullies behave that way because they don't bother to consider what impact their actions have on others.
And it's in all of us to do that. Our nature doesn't drive us to be "right." It drives us to be "dominant." Even nerds have the capacity to be bullies, and it wouldn't hurt us to be aware of that.
It isn't that Bob is taking internet culture seriously. It's that he's taking the apparent mentality
behind that culture as a bad sign of what kind of people we're letting ourselves become.
(And hey, Bob, in the same way -- not all of us take "internet discussions" seriously, but rather the process
behind the discussion. So... go easy on us long-winded folks.)