The Rise of Geekdom

cynagh0st writes "In what can only be described as the biggest newsflash for the Slashdot community since Microsoft was sued: It is the age of the geek. New York Times Op-Ed columnist and author David Brooks writes a brief article that can be best summed up in the following: All your culture are belong to us. In the article proper he summarizes the rise to power and discusses a technocratic geek dominance on the social construct. He writes, '... the new technology created a range of mental playgrounds where the new geeks could display their cultural capital. The jock can shine on the football field, but the geeks can display their supple sensibilities and well-modulated emotions on their Facebook pages, blogs, text messages and Twitter feeds ... They've created a new definition of what it means to be cool, a definition that leaves out the talents of the jocks, the M.B.A.-types and the less educated ... There are now millions of educated-class types guided by geek manners and status rules.'" I'm thinking Brooks must have been AFK for the 2nd half of the 90s when this started. To be more precise, late 97 ;)

Comments

I don't think so

[Tubal-Cain]

but the geeks can display their supple sensibilities and well-modulated emotions on their Facebook pages, blogs, text messages and Twitter feeds... I would call myself a geek, but I avoid using all those things like the plague. The only thing one could make a case that I use is a blog (/.).

David "Bobo" Brooks is an idiot

[aredubya74]

He's a self-described liberal that cheered on our Iraq warmongering, providing the Bush administration with the kind of media cover they need. His social commentary is equally misguided, and as such, he's a pundit without a real audience. He's been unapologetic on his cheerleading, wishing upon a star for a 3rd party (built on the "centrism" and "bipartisanship" of Joe Lieberman and John McCain). In short, an idiot.

Re:David "Bobo" Brooks is an idiot

[Guido von Guido]

"He's a self-described liberal...."

No. He's a conservative, albeit a moderate who feels "estranged" from the conservative movement (you'll have to search for the quote). According to the Wikipedia article on him, he "started out" as a liberal, but claims to have had a conversion moment during a debate with Milton Friedman. He worked for the conservative National Review. He was an editor for the conservative Wall Street Journal op-ed page. He was an editor for the conservative Weekly Standard.

He's still an idiot and a cheerleader for the war, but he's not a liberal.

Re:No, it is the age of the farmer and miner

[Anonymous Coward]

The big money is made by the oil industry execs, and obviously the petroleum engineers, chemists and geologists are earning very good salaries as well.

But even the lowly oil workers and welders are now making more than the avg programmer. The avg tar sands worker is making 93k, while the avg programmer is at 51k.

Re:Late 97?

[FredMenace]

I know you're just trying to be funny, but first, he never said that. Republican spin-meisters and the so-called "liberal media" made that up. (When was the last time anyone seriously accused "the media" of being liberal, anyway?) He actually said "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet". But was this statement a fair one?

From http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/goreinternet.htm:

When he was a senator, he supported funding for NSFNet through the High Performance Computing Act that became law in 1991. He wrote guest columns for Byte magazine that reflected an appreciation of technology.

From http://www.perkel.com/politics/gore/internet.htm (referring to an article by Mountain Democrat columnist David Jacobsen):

According to Vincent Cerf, a senior vice president with MCI Worldcom who's been called the Father of the Internet, "The Internet would not be where it is in the United States without the strong support given to it and related research areas by the Vice President in his current role and in his earlier role as Senator."

The inventor of the Mosaic Browser, Marc Andreesen, credits Gore with making his work possible. He received a federal grant through Gore's High Performance Computing Act.

The University of Pennsylvania's Dave Ferber says that without Gore the Internet "would not be where it is today."

Joseph E. Traub, a computer science professor at Columbia University, claims that Gore "was perhaps the first political leader to grasp the importance of networking the country. Could we perhaps see an end to cheap shots from politicians and pundits about inventing the Internet?"

The same is incidentally true of some of his other seemingly far-fetched stories (which, again, are often based on mis-quotes). For instance, from the same article:

Gore described a letter he'd received from a girl in West Tennessee while he was a congressman. Based on the girl's complaint about a poisoned well, he organized an investigation, which in turn led to other pollution sites, culminating in the expose of Love Canal. Referring to the well in Toone, Tennessee, Gore said, "That was the one you didn't hear of--but that was the one that started it all."

This quote was quickly changed to "I was the one that started it all" by the time the media reported it, then to "I was the one who started it all" by the Republicans.

And "Erich Segal, author of Love Story, corroborated that Gore and his Harvard roommate, Tommy Lee Jones, were indeed the models for the story's main character" [played by Ryan O'Neal].

Re:No, it is the age of the farmer and miner

[Anonymous Coward]

I tend to agree. I know in Australia, miners here can earn upwards of a starting point of 110k(AU) a year.
How do I know? I'm the paper shuffler who gives them that money :P