The Big Picture: Words for Nerds

[Agayek]

Isn't that the exact excuse the facebook bullies use when their victims commit suicide?

There's a difference between throwing jokes, parodies and other silliness around and outright attacking someone. One is a crude, yet lighthearted, approach, while the other is an aggressive act. There is a clear difference between the two, which is made blatantly clear pretty quickly. The former is always fair game, while the latter should be stopped as much as possible.

That said, I see the people committing suicide over bullying (in any form, but especially cyber-bullying) as utterly ridiculous. Having been through the bullying rigamarole, I can say it's not nearly as hard to deal with as they make it out to be. It takes work and some degree of maturity, but it's more than possible.

My view is probably a bit skewed due to my stance on suicide though (specifically, it's the ultimate act of cowardice and surrender), so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Furioso]

Isn't that the exact excuse the facebook bullies use when their victims commit suicide?

There's a difference between throwing jokes, parodies and other silliness around and outright attacking someone. One is a crude, yet lighthearted, approach, while the other is an aggressive act. There is a clear difference between the two, which is made blatantly clear pretty quickly. The former is always fair game, while the latter should be stopped as much as possible.

That said, I see the people committing suicide over bullying (in any form, but especially cyber-bullying) as utterly ridiculous. Having been through the bullying rigamarole, I can say it's not nearly as hard to deal with as they make it out to be. It takes work and some degree of maturity, but it's more than possible.

My view is probably a bit skewed due to my stance on suicide though (specifically, it's the ultimate act of cowardice and surrender), so take it with a grain of salt.

No, I don't think you can say it isn't as hard as they make it out to be, there are degrees of bullying, you were not bullied bad enough to make you want to commit suicide, therefore you are not the authority on whether or not bullying is a valid excuse to commit suicide

 

[sergnb]

"Of course ponies are exempt from this"

I'll just leave this here

Offically Bob sanctioned poines? My oh my!

I don't think that's a good thing.

Yes, that was a condescendent phrase, not a supportive one.

Stop with that shit. Now.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Well Bob, you touched upon "meme culture", and made me think a bit.

I find that most net dwellers who wield memes use them because:
1) The popularity of a meme carries with it some measure of inclusion. You know the quote, you fit in.
2) Most of the time, they don't know how to be genuinely funny or witty on their own, but a meme is both an acceptable substitute, and it's a simple copypasta job away.

Imagine if every comedian in the world used the SAME JOKES as each other and nothing else.
It'd be a cold night at the mic in many clubs across the country.

This doesn't mean a meme CAN'T be funny. Timing is a big part of comedy.
However, spamming your favorite lolcats, un-motivational poster, My Little Pony, AYB etc picture in the barest of context isn't comedy.

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.

Isn't that the exact excuse the facebook bullies use when their victims commit suicide?

The typical counter to that is "Well, it's THEIR FAULT for taking it so seriously.", and while that is true, it's only half the truth.
If something is truly done "in good fun", the perpetrator would STOP DOING IT when the recipient asks them to stop.

Decent people know when to quit; bullies don't know when (or don't want) to stop.

 

[Agayek]

No, I don't think you can say it isn't as hard as they make it out to be, there are degrees of bullying, you were not bullied bad enough to make you want to commit suicide, therefore you are not the authority on whether or not bullying is a valid excuse to commit suicide

That's true enough, but I can state with some degree of experience, if not authority, that it is the victim who defines how the bullying affects them. As long as it's not physical, the victim has all of the power in the relationship.

If you are insulted, there's one of two possible conclusions to the statement:
1) It is incorrect.
2) It is correct.

If #1, then you can safely ignore it. It's a blatant falsehood, and thus anyone who says it or believes it isn't worth the time to listen to.

If #2, you have to then analyze the statement. If you find the statement to be a non-issue, then you can safely ignore it. If you do find the statement to be an issue, then you know you have to do something about it, in which case you should be grateful to the idiot for pointing it out.

None of this involves throwing a hissy fit and eating 9mm of lead. Someone doesn't like you. Too fucking bad. You're never going to get along with everyone. Let them keep their opinions, practically nothing you can do will change their minds. Let them do their thing and continue on your day.

The problem with this approach is that it takes a certain degree of self-confidence and maturity, and unfortunately not a whole lot of people being bullied have either, so they don't tend to reach such a conclusion on their own. I'm just trying to impart whatever wisdom I've managed to gather on the matter.

Now, I'd also like to point out that all of this applies to purely non-physical bullying. When it crosses that line, just about everything changes. It becomes less a matter of conflicting opinions and more a matter of torture and cruelty.

Edit: For clarity's sake, all bullying should be stopped whenever it's found. What I'm trying to get at is that reacting negatively to verbal bullying accomplishes nothing and is utterly meaningless. No more.

 

[ProjectTrinity]

This conversation is weird for me. All of it! I was blessed with my mommy's face, the attitude of an elitist, and have a far greater acceptance rate of my peers offline than I do online. (Please don't ask how...) So I've been around *all* kinds of groups, pressures, differences and similarities while growing up. You can say my High School life was like being a jack of all - master of none. Never really got the bullying treatment, but have done my fair share to those I personally didn't like. But totally had valid and oftentimes exclusive reasons. ; _;

Everything he said except about Batman has weight to it when it comes to the bigger issues. The deviations I saw on this thread in order for some to stand on soapboxes are borderline unbelievable. If you don't try to add garbage or misinterpret, the message is pretty black and white: Some people do exactly what Bob wants to see less of, and the lasting victim mentality is quite pathetic. The whole thing about generalizations, "get used to it", and any other...sophisticated argument is like forming an argument about a non-issue. Internet Problem 101.

*Goes back to composing music*

 

[Grunt_Man11]

Look at all the people getting defensive and upset at Bob here.

Gives some validity to what Bob was saying in the the video if you ask me.

The truth hurts. It hurts a lot.

 

[Blue2]

Batman:Agreed but I can't complain about it since I have a popular obsession of my own.

Console War: Agreed, Want make sales numbers mean anything, be an accountant.

web forum - book: Disagree, forms are meant to be open for opinions, discussion and debate like your video, No matter how long it is. However people haven't learned to disagree without pulling a knife out.

web forum - "...Leave this here": Never seen this before...Must be a 4chan thing.

"revenge of the nerd": I can see what you mean.

 

[thelittleman66]

I was agreeing with him, until he said that spamming pony pictures on forums was okay. Forcing your meme of choice into anything unrelated is totally unacceptable. Some people have to accept the fact that some people DON'T CARE about whatever obsession you might have.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Hrm

3) Don't write books: Writing pithy summations is often seen as "low content".
4) Don't "leave this here": Useful if it's something outrageous that people haven't seen - especially if it directly contradictory to their argument.
5) Don't be a bully.

Take a look at any review, including most of the ones on here, is there an element of bullying in there? 90% of the time I'd say there is.

If our "betters" (meaning paid) do it, then...

You see the dilemma.

Oh, and pony culture was cute, now it's an abomination.

 

[Preston_r]

1: I liked this video because it said something that needed to be said, which basically evoked Wheaton's Law: Don't be a dick. Spouting off racist comments, sexism, and other forms of asshattery on the internet for general consumption is not a halmark of intelligence or maturity. It's just shitty jerkish behavior. Stop it. Yes, if you are in the right crowd of people who know you don't actually mean anything by it it can be funny, but on the internet with strangers? No. Just no.

One of the reasons why the whole "there aren't any girls on the internet" thing exists? Because guys on the internet either act like sexists jerks or try to get in their pants all the time. Its easier for a girl to be a guy on the net and not be harassed than to be honest. Stop being dicks.

2: I was bullied in school. Bullying is never Ok, just in fun, or tolerable. Being a bully on the internet is still being a bully. Stop it.

3: I wear my Brony t-shirt while playing D&D. I have a RBD figure standing underneath my Heroclix Sentinal. And if you don't like it, I don't really care. La la la.

4: Batman is cool when he's well written. Catwoman needs to be drawn by someone who doesn't have a lingerie fetish, and Starfire needs to be written by someone who thinks that women can be strong and awesome while fully clothed and not boning any humanoid that winks at her. Seriously.

 

[zedel]

I subscribe to the idea that a "nerd" and a "geek" are two different things. Pretty much everything discussed under this video feels like something I've seen/or would see among geeks as opposed to nerds. In high school, geeks were the ones talking about games and playing Magic. Nerds were the ones studying for tests at lunch and focusing more on academia. Certainly the two are not mutually exclusive, but most of my geek friends don't feel like nerds to me. That said, I probably shouldn't be too nitpicky, but I feel that my thoughts may have some value to someone.

 

[loomis]

That was some deep thinking Bob. Thanks.

 

[Cellseam]

Here's what a lot of comments are saying: "It's ok for us to be jerks because all humans are cliche-ish and jerks." Seriously.

 

[pearcinator]

Fuck yeah Zoidberg!

Long live John Fucking Zoidberg!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ0uUlOfPlQ&feature=related[/youtube]

 

[Raioken18]

I know this may sound stupid, but I like writing a lot. When I respond to someone on a forum I tend to enjoy analysing different aspects of what they are saying as part of a response, and when other people get into it as well it can be a lot of fun.

Now I know it is not for everyone, and that actually enjoying it is a little insane, however it is also hard to ignore that it has some benefits. For example, people take spelling and grammar pretty seriously, this means that when younger members of the gaming community join those message boards, then need to alter their behaviour to be taken seriously.

From secondary experience, someone in a gaming clan I used to belong to used to always use leet speak, and we found that he actually had trouble spelling words correctly while trying to get serious points across. Within weeks his sentence structure changed and he actually began writing longer more coherent posts. Earlier this year he got an A in English (Up from a D the year before). Now, whilst I can't prove that him being in part of an adult style clan helped improve his English skills, it was pretty obvious that his participation in our gaming discussion did have a positive effect (Even if most of it was about the different playstyles and logistics of killing other players with a variety of weapons).

I do realise that this is a form of elitism, however we accepted all members, and those who had excessively poor spelling and grammer over an extended period of time were considered to be trolls and removed.

Uhh... anyway I am getting away from the point, which was that it doesn't make sense to out people who like writing long responses as negatively influencing the nerd community or other people's view of it. I know it is uncool or whatever, but is it really a bad thing?

Also, it is not like I think I will be the next... Crap who's a good writer :/ Bryce Courtney? I am just writing for fun, and I don't really expect that a lot of people will bother to read the longer posts anyway.