Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Nerd Bullying

Yes, you read that right. I'm talking about Nerd Bullying today. Perhaps you think, "Surely nerds, who have historically been bullied, wouldn't do such a thing. They know better." I'd like to think so too, but I've noticed this lately and I wanted to say something.

Back in the day, it could be argued that the weaker the person, the less chance they had for survival. Without technology, strength was a much more important quality. Those without strength were looked down on, made to feel less. Not nice. I think we can all agree that though this happened it wasn't right.

Well, the tables have turned in many ways.

In this internet age, intelligence and other nerd qualities have come into power, and it almost seems as if there's some kind of Revenge of the Nerds going on out there. I mean, the internet is essentially a community created by nerds. It's their place to hang out and be cool. But as it's grown more accessible to "outsiders," I've noticed this kind of "Why are all these STUPID people invading MY space?" thing going on.

It almost seems like people are throwing their intelligence around like a weapon, mocking those with less knowledge, treating them very much like Poindexter might have been treated by the football team in 1950. There are virtual swirlies being given all over the internet.

My heart twists up every time I see some "noob" get made fun of. In publishing. In an online game. On Twitter. Whatever. My stomach turns when I read about the stupidity of people who like certain books or movies or music, as if smarter people are better and you should be ASHAMED to like such inane drivel. It's, well, a touch elitist, isn't it?

As people who probably know what it feels like to be on the outside, I hope we can rise above that impulse to act superior. I hope we can welcome newcomers, instead of making them feel stupid. We all know better, and I hope we can do better.

23 comments:

  1. This reminds me of a lecture ("presentation", but who do they think they were kidding) we got in high school from one of the early "engineers of the internet". This guy was in the "scary smart/I graduated college at 12 years old" category of geniuses and it was pretty clear that he never matured much past graduation.

    He intimidated his employees by threatening to make them "virtually disappear" from every database where they had existed, credit, DMV, etc. What's worse, he thought this was a skill worth bragging about to a bunch of 15 year-old kids.

    I'm sure he'd love to know he was "virtually forgotten" by us shortly thereafter. No idea what his name was; the only thing I remember is his personality.

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  2. Yeah, I'm with ya on that. The net's such a great place for all of us to share what we like and what we're good at, and whenever we treat the "n00bs" badly for something, it just makes us all a bit more clique-y. And I had enough of that in high school, thank you very much.

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  3. I'm such a meanie! Time for some more self-reflection.

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  4. I think part of it is that nerds have always been a bit elitist - it's only recently that their elitism has been noticed, because the world is focusing more on them.
    Think of it; how better to survive classic bullying by banding together with other nerds and talking about how those jocks are so stupid anyway?
    You're right though, it's definitely getting a lot more focus. We should just try to end the hate. :)

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  5. What made you post about this today? It's a great topic of discussion.

    Mostly I see this put-down talk about people who like Twilight or Miley Cyrus or a number of other random things, and while I don't really care for these things myself, I don't call people stupid for liking it.People have different tastes in movies and music and books, etc.

    An unfortunate aspect of human nature is to ridicule those who are different :(

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  6. Bethany, yeah, I totally get that. It's easy to do and I'll admit to doing it myself! A self-defense mechanism, you might say.

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  7. Interesting. I see it a lot, also, in people who have had some success and treat others poorly who have not seen that level of success or are not quite as seasoned. I think, especially in the writing community, everyone should support each other.

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  8. Interesting topic. I agree it's important to respect people no matter what their tastes. It's the whole "golden rule." Do unto others, right?

    I hadn't heard of this flip, but I don't do twitter yet, and my oldest is just in Kindergarten.

    Why can't we all just get along? ;)

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  9. The funny part is that it's actually spelled "n00b" (zeros).

    I feel sullied for saying it, but it did make me laugh.

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  10. Jason, I know how it's spelled, I just didn't want to look TOO elitist:P

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  11. Too true. Well said. Great post! (I did not intentionally make all of those two words... oops.)

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  12. Interesting post. I think I've always been middle of the road..not a complete nerd, but by no means Miss Popular either. And it's still that way. I know my way around a good portion of the internet, but there are many things that stump me. The things that seem worth it to me i figure them out. I like giving my help and advice to newbies...no one should be made to feel stupid simply for not knowing how to do something. There's a first time for everything for everyone.

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  13. Thanks for this post. I am also somewhere in the middle I think. I was too smart to be popular, but I wasn't welcomed by "nerds" either. I can figure stuff out pretty well, but I am definitely nervous that I may be one to get made fun of on the internet. *looks around nervously* Be nice to me. :-)

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  14. I think we all could use a reminder that there are real people on the other side of the computer screen. That's why I like the blogger community so much better than a forum or other board—it's easier to remember that people are more than their profiles. That it's our differences, our diversity, that makes this world so amazing.

    Thanks for the PSA. ;)

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  15. Huzzah! I agree. I see this happening on the forums I frequent a lot. It was actually one of the reasons why I was so hesitant to participate, because I was worried about being around people who thought that just because they'd had a small taste of success, they could pick on those who weren't on their level yet. I still see it happening, but this time I just roll my eyes and move on. Most people aren't like this, most people just fit in the middle of the group, and I assume most people can see just how much of a jerk this person is being to others who don't deserve it and won't humor them.

    Thanks for writing this post. I don't think this can be said enough times because it'll always exist, unfortunately, and it's nice to know there are people who don't agree with it and who are willing to take the time to show that.

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  16. Tere makes a good point, there is much less trolling and/or critical behavior when people are putting their real faces on things. Perhaps some of the influence comes from the ability to come up with insults anonymously and not having to deal with the consequences.
    I think if the nerd bullies energy can be harnessed into more productive things we'd all be better off (seriously though, I rant only a tenth of what I used to since having my World of Warcraft account cancelled).

    (Nice my word verification is braver. Final Fantasy 7 nerd moment. And if you guys don't know what I'm talking about I'm better than you! Just kidding. But I am!)

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  17. Thank you for this post. This is why I often hesitate before joining an online community: because I'm afraid of making the "noob" mistakes. Ideally, newbies should wait and observe before jumping in, but nobody can avoid all mistakes, and ridicule is a scary, scary thing.

    Like Bethany said, though, it can be a defense mechanism, and I'm afraid I've done it myself. I'll try to mind my actions in the future, because, yes, there is person on the other side of the Internet.

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  18. -cringes-
    This post kind of hurt a little. See, the thing is, I'm sixteen. I'm at the point where people always wanna talk about being bullied. But I don't really see the traditional stuff at my school, especially in the circles I tend to navigate in. But intelligence bashing?
    Yeah. It happens a lot. I've got a friend who consistently mocks me if I'm reading Meg Cabot or Melissa Walker instead of Jane Austen. She calls them my 'idiot' books. If someone doesn't get a joke, they're laughed at, and if someone can't catch up to the discussion in English, the rest of us give each other 'the look'--rolled eyes and huffing sighs. It's ... kind of horrid. I'm a debater--that's a built in community of intelligent people, generally. But it's also sometimes a cut throat one (who would have guessed, lol) in that if you can't keep up, you probably won't be tolerated.
    It's interesting, but I gotta say, really sad. Elitist, like you said, is the word.

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  19. This is one of the reasons I just lurk in the twitter shadows...

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  20. Sam, that's exactly what I went through. But I wasn't in debate because, well, I felt too stupid. Go figure. And you read all the Meg Cabot you want! "Idiot books" my shins.

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  21. This definitely happens... how hypocritical of us. Thanks for calling us on it.

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  22. This totally happens. But I had enough/gave enough crap in high school when I hung out with the "popular" kids. I try to be kind and sincere to every one i meet online and if I have nothing nice to say, I'm cliche and don't say anything at all. We all get/give enough of that crap in our youth. We shouldn't do it and though i'm not perfect and occasionally slip up, I try my hardest not to.

    I'm wondering what provoked you to talk about this, but if you don't want to share, that's okay too.

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