Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
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Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
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Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
#2Nerds believe that truth is more important than interpersonal alignment.
Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
#3Nerds believe that truth is more important than interpersonal alignment.
As COVID-19 shows, it is most of the times
Nerds are unpopular, admitting they really are and care about being popular, because they mostly don't believe in luck, faith, higher beings and what common people usually think it's important in life
A nerd won't think yoga it's good because yoga is popular on Instagram, a nerd believes exercise is important, regardless of the cool factor
People don't like being told "your beliefs are based on fashion" and will rule nerds are as "not interpersonally aligned".
Truth is they are usually right
Cassandra was a nerd, Trojans believed she was unpleasant and were defeated by a wooden horse
Also: being popular sucks, many intelligent people prefer other achievements in life
Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
#4I did not know I needed this, or how much. Thank you.
Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
#5Another reason why nerd groups are ostracized is envy. In the ocean of boredom that is high school, one group manages to create an island of fantasy and computer programming. While everyone is marred by memorization and popularity contests, one group is having a blast killing imaginary monsters with throws of D20s. That is certainly to be treated with envy.
Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
#6Another reason why nerd groups are ostracized is envy. In the ocean of boredom that is high school, one group manages to create an island of fantasy and computer programming. While everyone is marred by memorization and popularity contests, one group is having a blast killing imaginary monsters with throws of D20s. That is certainly to be treated with envy.
I hate to break it to you, but no one envied the nerds and D&D kids in high school. No one wanted to be one of the deviant outcasts who spent their time in the basement rather than having a normal social life with status and friends and sex. It's only been relatively recently, with the popularity of the web, that many aspects of former "nerd" culture such as anime and D&D (and of course, using a computer to begin with) haven't been viewed with contempt by the mainstream.
Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
#7eh I hate this kind of Ender's game self-victimisation. Nerds aren't unpopular because they're too smart for school and all the athletic jocks envy them, they're unpopular because they act like nerds. That's not a passive thing happening to someone, it's something that people actively act like.
Obviously one can be highly intelligent in school and not be nerdy, everyone knows people who are intelligent as well as popular have a healthy social life.
Nerds never did well in school because they're often smug as hell, think they're the brainy protagonist of some sort of TV show envied by everyone else, but in reality not even that clever. That's a bad combination. The nerds are no different than the goth kids, or the punks, or anyone else who conjures up an identity in high school to declare themselves the moral centre of the universe. It's unpopular because it's immature.
Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
#8eh I hate this kind of Ender's game self-victimisation. Nerds aren't unpopular because they're too smart for school and all the athletic jocks envy them, they're unpopular because they act like nerds. That's not a passive thing happening to someone, it's something that people actively act like. Obviously one can be highly intelligent in school and not be nerdy, everyone knows people who are intelligent as well as pop…
Struck a nerve? Not a nerd? Confusion about terms?
Most people spend large part of their effort on popularity contest. Nerd is somebody that even if he/she would like to take part in the contest they value other, more intellectual exercises. They end up underdeveloped socially because they don't have as much experience as somebody that spends most of their time partying, socializing or avoiding study or work to be able to party and socialize.
Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
#9eh I hate this kind of Ender's game self-victimisation. Nerds aren't unpopular because they're too smart for school and all the athletic jocks envy them, they're unpopular because they act like nerds. That's not a passive thing happening to someone, it's something that people actively act like. Obviously one can be highly intelligent in school and not be nerdy, everyone knows people who are intelligent as well as pop…
PG addressed the point about envy and he does not argue that envy drives unpopularity. Regardless, I'm with you on your first two paragraphs, but not sure I agree with all of the last one.
In my opinion, the "act like nerds" part likely comes from temperamental traits such as social anxiety, higher sensitivity, etc. For identifying with "being smart" (whether they actually are, is debatable) I would argue it is at least partially as a result of intellectualization being their go-to defense mechanism to cope with uncomfortable emotions (e.g., social ostracization/bullying).
In other words, nerds likely become nerds as a result of being unpopular/ostracized, not the other way around.
Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)
#10Nerds believe that truth is more important than interpersonal alignment.
As COVID-19 shows, it is most of the times Nerds are unpopular, admitting they really are and care about being popular, because they mostly don't believe in luck, faith, higher beings and what common people usually think it's important in life A nerd won't think yoga it's good because yoga is popular on Instagram, a nerd believes exercise is important, regardless of the cool factor People don't like being told "your…
what are you talking about?
Since we are generalizing, being popular is awesome. And, objectively better than not being popular.
I guess I'm not intelligent.