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John Hodgman On the Coming Geek Culture
An anonymous reader writes "Famous writer and minor television personality John Hodgman posits the end of the culture of Jockdom in favor of a cultural reverence for engineers, scientists and Slashdot readers: 'Jockdom is very noble. It's not deliberative. It's certainly the best way to win wars. It's the best way to motivate teams of people to fulfill a goal — not just war, but getting things done. The most important way to motivate a factory floor. But as you know, we're not as much of a manufacturing society as we were before. China and other big industrial nations are rewarding their nerds and technicians rather than creating a culture that makes fun of them — it would be wise for us to embrace the book-smart as much as our culture has traditionally embraced the street-smart, the jock-smart. I'm not saying nerds must have their revenge; I'm just saying the time for wedgies is at an end.'"
I, for one, welcome myself as one of our new overlords.
Isn't that the guy who played spider-man in those movies???
Pffft, who's gonna listen to this pathetic, whinging, scrawny little dweeb?
<sarcasm>
Right - people get picked on in high school because they're not sufficiently well rounded. That was exactly my experience.
How clearly I remember the captain of the wrestling team accosting me in gym class in my sophomore year, throwing me against the wall, and sneering, "You know, you could really benefit from a more diverse set of interests."
</sarcasm>
Hodgman ... played minor parts in Tina Fey's Baby Mama, Ricky Gervais' The Invention of Lying and Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Battlestar Galactica.
No wonder the ending of BSG was so out there. Too many chefs spoil the stew.
Putting moderation advice in your
You make a good argument, but it is simply not believable. I refuse to believe that Hollywood would have lied to me this badly for no other reason than to take my money.
Sounds like he had a thing for you and really bad pickup lines.
Maybe you were too sarcastic in high school?
A lot of people don't like that, you know.
Really? You don't say?
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
Psst, hey, French guy. C'mere.....
At first, I was wondering where this vitriolic rant came from, and from which country you could be from. Then I saw "France", and it all became clear. I'm not going to scream and yell, really, because I understand that this kind of a tantrum comes from a massive inferiority complex that the French collective psyche carries around. Hey, it's okay, really. Once proud imperial power, now relegated to getting wedgies from upstart nations that you once toyed with. You need a hug, and maybe a good solid "There, there" and a pat on the back. Then you'll bawl for a bit, check under your bed for Germans, and go back to sleep 'till morning. I know, it's hard to look around seeing American stuff *everywhere*, when you know deep in your heart that it's just not fair! "That should be French culture that's slipping it's tendrils into the lives of people around the globe, not American! Those jocks, er, I mean Americans don't deserve all the attention that us nerds, er, I mean Frenchmen should be getting on the world-stage!" you cry out. Then the U.S. gives you another wedgie and stupid England just snickers in that annoying way it has, and you're just left *steaming*.
Oh, and "big jewy loser"? Really?
As an aside, you've completely missed the point of all those movies you are so angry about. It's not that people identify with the "loser" character in those movies. It's that Americans like to root for the underdog. Maybe that's a cultural difference, maybe France prefers to "root for the winner", I don't know, but somewhere something seems to be getting lost in the translation.
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
I've lost count of the number of times I've been able to solve a programming problem that specialists are stumped by simply by realising that it was already solved a decade ago in another field and the solution can be moved across.
Hmmm... Perhaps they did something in another field which, if you applied it to yourself, might help get your count back on track.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
'My political team is the best because it was my dad's and they best stoke my primitive fears,' as opposed to 'They have the best policies for me and my family.'
That reminds me of an old joke:
Q: "Why are you a republican?"
A: "Well, because my father was a republican, and my father's father was a republican."
Q: "What if your father was a horse thief, and your father's father was a horse thief?"
A: "Well, then I'd probably be a democrat."
haw haw /registered independent
A guy's hitchhiking, looking for work in the Great Depression. A big car slows down, and the driver yells at him, "Who are you for in the election?" The guy answers, "Roosevelt!" and the big car peels off and splatters him with gravel. After a little more of this, the guy finally realizes that only rich Republicans have cars and the money to buy gas. So when a fancy sports car slows down to ask the same question, he replies, "Hoover!" The pretty rich girl lets him in, and he can't help noticing that her skirt is way up her thighs. So he says, "For godsakes, lady, pull your skirt down. I've only been a Republican for five minutes, and already I feel like f**king somebody.