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Old 03-28-2016, 08:57 AM
 
Location: Iceland
876 posts, read 994,666 times
Reputation: 1018

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When will this tired old trope of the smart nerd go away? We have all heard the stereotypes. "Oh sure he may be obnoxious and annoying, the girls hate him and the bros beat him, but he's super smart so one day he will be our next Bill Gates and own us all" etc.

Except this isn't even remotely true.

This whole idea of the smart nerd is based on 2 false assumptions:

1. If somebody is very socially inept and enjoys complex hobbies, then they must be smart.
2. If somebody is socially adept and likes simple hobbies, then they are probably stupid.

Neither of those things make any sense. GOOD SOCIAL SKILLS ARE A FORM OF INTELLIGENCE!!! If somebody has bad social skills, that doesn't mean that person is secretly smart, it just means they have bad social skills. Bill Gates is super smart, and he has good social skills. You can't be a huge success if your social skills suck. You just can't. And most nerds aren't even that talented anyway. Sure, there are some that know some really complex stuff like rocket science, but most are merely busy watching anime or playing some JRPG while not having any special skills to speak of.

I honestly think this whole meme of the "smart nerd stupid jock" is just something the nerds themselves created to make themselves feel better. Kinda like how the whole myth of the dumb female blonde started, where people (probably ugly women) started saying that while blondes are hot they are probably also stupid. Nerds know they are looked down on so they created this myth for themselves in order to boost their own probably fairly small egos.

As somebody who works out and thus probably falls into the "not smart group" according to the fugly nerds I feel that if any stereotype needs to die it's this one.
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Old 03-28-2016, 09:15 AM
 
4,613 posts, read 4,776,095 times
Reputation: 4097
There are a couple of good points hidden in your post, hidden behind a bunch of inaccurate stereotypes of your own.
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Old 03-28-2016, 10:40 AM
 
6,039 posts, read 6,020,872 times
Reputation: 16753
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hivemind31 View Post
There are a couple of good points hidden in your post, hidden behind a bunch of inaccurate stereotypes of your own.
And he's 25yo.
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Old 03-28-2016, 11:34 AM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,305,619 times
Reputation: 53066
I think that people having different individual definitions of what "a nerd" is may be at work here also.
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Old 03-28-2016, 03:05 PM
 
9,238 posts, read 22,802,574 times
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To me, a "nerd" is a person who is extremely knowledgeable about something, including knowing a lot about the details of that topic. Being knowledgeable about a topic may be associated with being intelligent, but of course a not-so-intelligent person can be a "nerd" too, as long as they have a lot of knowledge about something.


If I know a lot about history, and I like to read and analyze details of history, and make references to history, I might be a history nerd.
If I know a lot about wine, and I like to analyze details about different wines, read about wines, and score the all on an excel spreadsheet, I might be a wine nerd.
If I know a lot about the TV show The Walking Dead, and analyze every little scene more than I analyze the events of my own life, I might be called a Walking Dead nerd.


Being a nerd has nothing to do with being obnoxious, annoying and hated. Even as a kid, people who were called nerds were the kids who got good grades (who were knowledgeable). They weren't necessarily hated. Some nerds might have poor social skills, but some might have great or medium social skills.


Somehow the OP is confusing "nerd" with "socially impaired" and "obnoxious."
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Old 03-28-2016, 03:12 PM
 
8,012 posts, read 8,172,556 times
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This whole thread is the pot calling the kettle black.
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Old 03-28-2016, 06:29 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
28,226 posts, read 36,719,617 times
Reputation: 28561
I am a nerd. I have good social skills. These are not mutually exclusive skills.

It also helps to know that not so long ago being a "nerd" was one of the worst things you could be. So as the "everyone is a winner" culture grew, so did the idea of helping people turn "negatives" into "positives" in order to hep build compassion and self-esteem.
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Old 03-28-2016, 07:46 PM
 
8,012 posts, read 8,172,556 times
Reputation: 12159
Quote:
Originally Posted by jade408 View Post
I am a nerd. I have good social skills. These are not mutually exclusive skills.

It also helps to know that not so long ago being a "nerd" was one of the worst things you could be. So as the "everyone is a winner" culture grew, so did the idea of helping people turn "negatives" into "positives" in order to hep build compassion and self-esteem.
Well I guess there are pros and cons to the "everyone is a winner" culture. But yes I am glad society sees that being a nerd is not a valid reason to be an ass to someone.
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Old 03-28-2016, 08:32 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
28,226 posts, read 36,719,617 times
Reputation: 28561
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ro2113 View Post
Well I guess there are pros and cons to the "everyone is a winner" culture. But yes I am glad society sees that being a nerd is not a valid reason to be an ass to someone.
Me too! Not being mainstream isn't an automatic negative for sure. Diversifying beauty standards is good too. There are different paths to success and we should see that reflected in society too.
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Old 03-28-2016, 09:24 PM
 
Location: Clovis Strong, NM
3,376 posts, read 6,077,843 times
Reputation: 2031
My conversation skills were never the greatest in the world, but that didn't stop me from getting out there to try and establish dialogue. The way I see it, the macho mentality is running too high in many parts of the world and in order to win, one must be able to communicate like some sort of politician or celebrity.
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