emptypepsi

I found this about two years ago. This is actually very thought provoking, and I would especially like to hear European/Asian/Canadian opinions on this. It sort of goes into all of the reasons why not only nerds are unpopular in American schools, but why the school social build is the way it is. It can get a bit verbose, but I think it maintains a steady flow for the most part.

Why Nerds are Unpopular

Please, read this when you have time.

EP

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Scribbler1

I think nerds ar unpopular because they are smart enough to realize being a jock or a cheerleader hottie is temporary at best.

That's why they generally end up owning the company you work for.

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FRYandBENDER

I liked it. I would post some of my favorite lines, but I don't want to look through that whole thing again. I think that for the most part he was spot on with his analysis. Highschool is pretty lame. Strangly enough, we didn't have that big of a problem with this sort of thing when I was in high school. I mean, we had the nerds and the jocks and all that, but I think I graduated before this social hierarchy was glorified on television the way it is now..... and in movies especially. When I look back I guess I started out in seventh grade as kind of a nerd WRT wanting to learn, but I had always played baseball and eventually football. As the years passed I eventually quit the marching band, then the jazz band, and began to devote all of my time to trying to be popular and to get the "hot" girl in school....... which I did, eventually . I was still in this mode when I started college. Looking back, the first two years of my college career were a disgrace. I've eventually come back to the nerdy side. I finally got to a point where I was less interested in being able to walk into a bar and havle everyone say "hey, your here.... whats up man, blah, blah, blah" and more interested in not only passing my tests, but actually being able to learn more than the other students and to perform better than they did. ( I have an art degree, so I think that it was a little different than learning/ memorizing and then taking a test. While learning was definately a huge part, there was also the staying up all night and redoing pieces, and then redoing them again.) I still like to go out and party, but that is because I like to drink and hang out with friends. The only difference being that now instead of drinking as fast as I can so that the bitch yammering on about her prada bag or why that other girl is a slut will either make sense or no longer be boring, I now get drunk gradually and talk to more worth while people about more worth while subjects. Anyways, I still retained some humanity through out the whole ordeal. I couldn't bring myself to ridicule others for the hell of it and I seemed to always have someone or something keep me somewhat level headed. I remember one time I had a kid in my trig class ask me if I would teach him how to be cool. He was a nerd... big time. It made me feel really bad. I told him that the secret to being cool is to not give a fuck about what anyone else thinks and to do things how he wanted to do them. If he can stick with that, everything else will fall into place. I didn't necessarily heed my own advice.

Geeze, anyways, I think that this sort of thing is definately a societal problem brought on by, more than anything else, being marketed to on a 24/7 basis. I mean, it is bad enough that we have an "image" being forced onto our youth all the time, but it is just as bad for adults. The one thing that continues to escape my understanding is how we could have grown up with all of these adults preaching to us about how to be an adult, and then we grow up and see that the adults are acting like kids too. This depresses me beyond comprehension.

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Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. ... I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for others. I covet no mans soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Ayn Rand, Anthem.

Common insult examples and how to avoid them

Clay Hamilton

See, he raises the question that if kids are so smart, why don't they figure out how to be popular.

They do. I did, it isn't that hard. The lingo is easy to pick up, just leave MTV on the background as you read a book or something. The dressing is easy, go to the right stores (they aren't hard to find) and you basically can't miss unless you buy something from the girl's section. If you aren't athletic, be funny. Watch a bunch of comedy central standups and you will learn how comical commentary works.

I did it, this stuff all works. I am neither particularly good looking nor athletic, but I got it to work.

But be forewarned, this stuff is tiring like he says. I quit a few months ago. I had it all right, and then looked around, thought about it, and decided it wasn't worth it. I decided the whole thing was full of shit and I found myself in desperate need of a shower. It isn't all its cracked up to be, unless you are at the very top. Being king is good, but being the king's friend isn't all that great. And really, I don't miss it at all.

emptypepsi

Well, I don't remember Grade school being too bad, as all of the lingo you picked up was usually formed on the playground and spread as such. Primary school, on the other hand, and High School in with it, was quite a bitch. It's not quite so drawn out for a lot of kids. We didn't have cable when I lived in Illinois, and then moving to Texas as a UIL Spelling/Track runner in a pure FFA/Football town, along with a weird accent to the locals didn't help much either.

Most kids who sacrifice learning for hipster tips are sacrificing time to become smarter in those areas, so therefore are sacrificing being a smart kid.
What this guy seems to be saying is that there is no way you can remain staying on the smart train philosophy while going along with the mainstream kids. The lifestyle you live changes (even as you say, you gotta live with the MTV distraction, sacrifice educational TV for stand-up, and if it's anything like a few yeard ago, giving up a weekend of studying/keeping the GPA up for the occasional party).

__________________
"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."
Isaac Asimov

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zerochill

i am in high school and i can see it but for some reason it seams i am excuded. every one knows i am smart but i dont fit in with any body i dont have any friends and i am so messed up in the head that i am slightly infamous. lots of people i dont know know me and i am the school crazy but a damb smart one.

Diligent_d

Smart with math, not spelling - right?

Kazikli Bey

I know the feeling, i am like that too. I have few friends because i am very cynical of other people (and basically hate everybody, i think they're all idiots, poor cynical me). I am smart though, my yr 11 chem teacher was scared when he found out i knew how to make dynamite and napalm, people think i am a freak with my knowledge and coz of the fact that i am a tripper. I guess every school has one.

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Big Brother

The article doesn't address the issues it raises. Mainly, why IN AMERICA is being smart unpopular. Could it be because of our frontier roots and that, out on the range, intellectual abilities were less useful than physical ones. You ain't gonna survive on the prarie pardner knowin' what the square root of 154 is.

Is it possible that one reason jocks are more popular is that they are better socialized and more motivated to make friends because they lack the keen intelligence to pursue interests on their own. Intellectual pursuits require isolation. Sports are generally done on teams, most jocks have been socialized in groups from an early age due to their interest in team sports.


None of this was addressed and it became a high school confessional, or a how to, ' how to go from nerd to jock in three easy steps'. Very uhh....American.



Big Bro

dogmaphobe

Nerds are who they are. They like what they like. They are genuine and original and follow their own inner voice. They are iconiclasts and innovaters and if they are socially awkward, it is only because the little society, itself, is so screwed up.


No wonder they piss off the sheep who are what they think they should be, like what they think they should like, are phony, shallow, unoriginal and who work so diligently at conforming to the rules of the game.

Seems that much human history consists of the ignorant masses with their pitchforks ready to pounce on the heretics who actually think for themselves. Though no longer violent, the way people regard "Nerds" today is but a time-honored tradition.