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Why Nerds Are Unpopular
AccordionGuy writes "Paul Graham, who's known for his writings on Lisp and other Lisp-like languages as well as his essays on combatting spam has taken a bit of a detour from his usual topics. His latest essay is one that's a little more personal and that we can all relate to: Why Nerds Are Unpopular . It's a lengthy but engaging writeup of that chamber of horrors we call high school and why being smarter than the average bear is more of a liability than an asset during that stage in life. It's food for thought for those of us who've already been there, done that and been stuffed into lockers by the football team and it should give some hope to those who are going through it right now."
Reports of 3 Racist Incidents Are Probed in Antelope Valley
Hate: Lancaster mayor decries the burning of a swastika into the grass at
city park after a celebration of diversity.
By CAITLIN LIU, Times Staff Writer
Authorities are investigating three hate-related incidents reported in
the Antelope Valley over the weekend.
Saturday morning, a black family in Palmdale found racial slurs and
swastikas written in chalk on the driveway of their house in the 37900 block
of Rose Marie Street, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department's Palmdale station. The family also discovered a slashed tire and
a slash in a car's convertible top.
That afternoon at Lancaster City Park, just after hundreds of community
members attended a picnic celebrating the community's ethnic and cultural
diversity, sheriff's deputies discovered a large swastika burned into the
grass with what appeared to be chemicals.
The swastika, measuring about 6 feet across, was found about 3 p.m.,
said Lt. Richard Lichten of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's
Lancaster station.
"I'm annoyed that it happened in the proximity of our heritage picnic,"
said Lancaster Mayor Frank C. Roberts, who called the annual event, which
offered food, prayers and performances by 18 ethnic or religious groups, "an
outpouring of love."
Roberts added that hate incidents and hate crimes are not commonplace
in the Antelope Valley. "If you look at the hate crime records, you'll find
that our hate activity statistics are lower than the rest of L.A.," Roberts
said.
According to the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, the San
Fernando Valley in 1998 had more hate crimes per capita than the Antelope
Valley.
The other incident occurred at 1:50 a.m. Saturday, when a 33-year-old
white woman drove into a parking lot of a nightclub in the 45200 block of
10th Street West in Lancaster and was confronted by a large group of black
men and women, Lichten said. The woman told police that one of the women in
the parking lot shouted a racial slur at her and scratched her car with
keys.
No suspects have been arrested in any of the incidents, and authorities
said they did not know if any were related.
The Skinny Pushover. The Skinny Pushover finds sports 'hard' and exclusively for "those jock assholes". Recluse behaviour makes them antisocial, irritating, cyinical and generally unpleasant to be around. They feel as if they're more intelligent than normal people
The Fat Fuck. The Fat Fuck doesn't metabolise quite as well as his thin counterpart. The Fat Fuck therefore packs on the pounds of blubber just playing video games and watching cartoons all day. The Fat Fuck is typically more bearable as a friendly human being, but is only marginally so due to reeking body odor.
Now that I've defined the two breeds, I have some more ideas why nerds are unpopular.
They smell bad because they're unwashed. Basic hygiene cuts time out of watching Cartoon Network and playing MMORPGs. Thusly, the poor hygiene forces them to seek the willing company of their own kind for sexual encounters, leading up to the next point...
They prefer games like Everquest and Quake3 LAN parties to actual social interaction.
The nerd only seeks a certain type of employment: see IT/IS technician and or sysadmin. Further isolation leads to undesirable public behaviour, on the rare occasion that it occurs at all. Case and point, poor manners and emulation of cartoon characters.
Excessive quotation from the television show "The Simpsons". While amusing the first couple re-runs, memorised and regurgitated script from a cartoon proves to be an incredible deterrant for normal people.
i was unpopular, but not because of any status as a "nerd".
they were just jealous of my stylish good looks.
The wise follow a damned path, for to know is to be forsaken.
I had a rough childhood, almost everything was beyond my control. There were times growing up I wasn't just ridiculed for my small stature or interest in being a "computer nerd" Go read my journal if you want all the details.
There are two types of nerds, there's the nerd with a good family, that has a clue on how to raise their kids. The kid goes into all the clubs, and is pretty popular. This kid is recognized by their peers and peers parents as having a loving, stable home. Their well being and stability is attractive to teachers, students, and other members of the school community.
Then you got nerds like me. People who had some fucked up parents. Never learned to socialize properly at a young age with other people. I used to spend all my lunches and recesses either in the library or, if I kissed butt with teacher, could spend it with an appleIIe. I would do this to hide from the bullying that would take place. Even my "freinds" took turns bullying me, everything from practicing what Hulk Hogan was doing on WWF (now WWE) to just talking me down to make themselves feel better, since our group was cast from the social misfits known as the "mod" style in the 80's.
I was different than all of them, I could not "fit" in with the "normal" kids. I could not fit in with the "abnormal" mod kids. I didn't know U2 from The Cure. I knew all the poke locations on my atari, I knew how to format a floppy, I knew some basic. While my friends were picking out styles of clothes to wear I just wore whatever was in my drawer. I had no style sense whatsoever, I would wear green shirts with blue pants.
There were times at school, I would just be standing there, and suddenly some stupid ass jock I didn't even know would run into my back full speed to knock me down. I would always do my best to try and kick their asses then and there, which would end up with 4 guys jumping on me.
Sometimes the teachers would give me shit, "Toqer, why don't you just walk away?" Yeah thats it, just walk away, while they shout out insults to your back. Not fighting just shows them you're scared of them, which makes the bullying worse.
It's never stopped throughout my life. Even as an adult, I let people influence me because sometimes I feel inadequate when it comes to interpersonal matters. Am I inadequate? Or did outside influences keep me from developing what I needed in this area early in life?
I really blame my parents a lot. They couldn't get along with each other, they had a vicious divorce. Us kids were passed back and forth as messanger, "TELL YOUR FATHER HE'S A BUMB" "TELL YOUR MOTHER SHE'S A WHORE!" This was how I was taught to deal with the oppisite sex at 3-4 years of age.
I got lucky, I met a good woman who loves me and tries to remind me that I'm no longer there. Still though, all these scars have effected me in my adult life. I couldn't control my life as a kid, I just wished the jocks, teachers had the empathy to see that as well.
Intelligence does not equate to unpopularity, no matter how much the victimized "smart" people would like to tell you. Well, at least that's how things have worked out in high school. Everyone's an asshole in junior high, there's no avoiding that.
--sdem
Nerds have no social skills whatsoever. They also fail to bathe regularly (which is probably a symptom of having no social skills). What exactly is the mystery here?
YHL; HAND.
posted from ancient win2k. blue screens when I press ctrl+scrlk twice, on purpose. linux protects me from hax0rs and pimps wireless. W3rd!
Also you need some smack or some shit to cool the hell down. Better, I find you some dope honey so you can blow your load. Christ man!
Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
Don't act like you switched out of some desire. You switched because you were going to fail out. I've got a copy of your transcript you dirty, filthy faggot. You are a goddamned liar if you say otherwise! Fuck you!
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
You didn't get beat up because you were smart. It was because you were a pussy. and I'd do it again if I saw you today.