This isn't a defense of bullying - the way to deal with the problem I describe is through political organization.
The 1960s failed to bring about substantial political change. The solution pursued by nerds was to burrow underneath reality, to create an "alternate reality", or virtual reality. Using this reality, *their* reality, they would take power in the world. Computers, and then the internet, are the key tools used to bring this about. The recent movie The Cabin in the Woods handles this nicely, with the geeky character being the only one to understand the virtual reality controlling their lives.
Dungeons and Dragons is a metaphor for this experience - leaving the "real world" and entering dark dungeons (the inner world of computers) to do battle with monsters (bosses, jocks) - finally exterminating the monsters and gaining wealth, power, and fame.
Violence is always the answer when there's no other answer. The 1980s was the pinnacle of bullying of nerds, as that was the last chance for a world not dominated by virtual reality. The movie Computer Chess addresses this period.
We now live in a world dominated by computers and the internet, and of course by geeks. Geeks are now powerful enough to be openly social, as opposed to the 1980s nerd who hid from the world to protect himself and his creation of virtual reality. Geeks are now powerful enough to oppress others, as the movie Hacktivism details with respect to Scientology.
Geeks have given us the surveillance state, have allowed for the financialization of the global economy. They've also enabled us to communicate anywhere, at any time, and to see a remarkable range of uses of cats on the internet. There is an entire ruling class structure of geeks, from Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (pewdiepie) to the typical computer programmer.
Geeks have succeeded in coming to power. They've killed the monsters, gotten the loot, leveled up. Now they live on the surface of the world, many as kings. But as a peasant might say as he witnesses the carnage and the smile of triumph on the face of the geek, what was the point?
The 1960s failed to bring about substantial political change. The solution pursued by nerds was to burrow underneath reality, to create an "alternate reality", or virtual reality. Using this reality, *their* reality, they would take power in the world. Computers, and then the internet, are the key tools used to bring this about. The recent movie The Cabin in the Woods handles this nicely, with the geeky character being the only one to understand the virtual reality controlling their lives.
Dungeons and Dragons is a metaphor for this experience - leaving the "real world" and entering dark dungeons (the inner world of computers) to do battle with monsters (bosses, jocks) - finally exterminating the monsters and gaining wealth, power, and fame.
Violence is always the answer when there's no other answer. The 1980s was the pinnacle of bullying of nerds, as that was the last chance for a world not dominated by virtual reality. The movie Computer Chess addresses this period.
We now live in a world dominated by computers and the internet, and of course by geeks. Geeks are now powerful enough to be openly social, as opposed to the 1980s nerd who hid from the world to protect himself and his creation of virtual reality. Geeks are now powerful enough to oppress others, as the movie Hacktivism details with respect to Scientology.
Geeks have given us the surveillance state, have allowed for the financialization of the global economy. They've also enabled us to communicate anywhere, at any time, and to see a remarkable range of uses of cats on the internet. There is an entire ruling class structure of geeks, from Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (pewdiepie) to the typical computer programmer.
Geeks have succeeded in coming to power. They've killed the monsters, gotten the loot, leveled up. Now they live on the surface of the world, many as kings. But as a peasant might say as he witnesses the carnage and the smile of triumph on the face of the geek, what was the point?
