From what I remember, it's a phrase that the "cool" (yet dumb) kids use to be-little the smart (but un-cool) kids at school.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Bakker
The typical mind vs muscle routine.
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From what I remember, it's a phrase that the "cool" (yet dumb) kids use to be-little the smart (but un-cool) kids at school.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Bakker
The typical mind vs muscle routine.
LOL! Some pretty hilarious responses!
My own list of geek offences - aside from spending two decades working on a fantasy world - would be too long to recite here...
Some highlights include:
Memorizing, word for word, the entire dialogue of the Conan the Barbarian movie.
Spending three entire months, seven days a week, ten hours a day, playing a war-game called "Pacific War" in my basement with my brother. A whole summer, white as a worm...
Humming the Star Trek 'battle theme' ad nauseum whenever playing badminton.
OK... That's quite enough, I think.
Geeks seem to be a dying breed around my area.
All the kids are turning into "homeboys" regardless of race or colour. A good thing in a sense of racial acceptance, a bad thing in the sense of social diversity.
Where's the quiet, shy, kid scurrying out the back door with a thick fantasy tome tucked under his arm?
Nowhere to be seen amongst the swathes of middle-class, teenage gangbanger wannabes, calling each other "Blood". :rolleyes:
And to think geeks were considered losers!
Hey, my youngest son is one of those kids. He writes reviews for the gaming forum here and he reads fantasy all the time. But he is a very cool kid, just a bit different and a bit more intelligent than many.
Fair enough Gary but you live in New York. I live in London and trust me these kids can't even spell "gangster" so I'm not expecting them to become bookworms anytime soon.
Do you teach? If so, you have a great opportunity then.
It's incredible to me how many kids don't read today. The statistics are shocking. But part of the problem is the basis of this thread. Negative conotations applied to people who read, people who look different, people who have interests other than mainstream interests, teach young people to be average. The perception is that anything else might make them a target for ridicule. But why? How did this perception come to be to begin with? Jealousy? Envy? Cruelty? I don't get it and I never did.
From my personal experience, kids in particular tend to be pack animals.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary Wassner
They'll group together more out of fear than anything else. Lead by an alpha male/female who thinks collectively for the group.
Any outsider must be assimilated into the group or outcast and ridiculed on sight.
As time goes, the kids may grow and develop a sense of self identity allowing the formation of new smaller groups away from "the pack" that have different stimuli and interests.
Thus was born "the nerds".
Previously outcasted nerds sought sanctuary within this new group and were welcomed warmly.
The geekness of the geek is directly proportional to the financial value of the Warhammer army of the geek, along with the skill displayed in painting such an army.
I'm kidding!
I get a little bitter over warhammer though, I have several hundred bucks worth of high elves (2 repeater ballistas!!! *evil grin*) and have only played a few times.
I'm thinking about it and I've got to say, I have way more embarassing stories about doing supposedly cool things like drinking and stuff lol.
I never lost my keys in the snow doing cartwheels at a d+d game I can tell you that. OR thrown up for that matter.
The Japanese have a saying: 'The jutting nail gets hammered down.' We human beings are hardwired for conformity, that much is plain - which is just one of the things that makes the contemporary dogma 'individualism' so ludicrous.Quote:
Negative conotations applied to people who read, people who look different, people who have interests other than mainstream interests, teach young people to be average. The perception is that anything else might make them a target for ridicule. But why?
Is there a difference between a geek and a nerd?
I know I was always an outsider like Gary, but it never bothered me much. Somehow I got through high school and college without any trouble. The weird thing was that since I'm such a sports nut, I'd just as easily hang out with the jocks as the fantasy and role-players.
The only thing I remember about my geekness getting me in trouble was when a jock kept getting on me about being Asian Indian and questioning my religion and basically mocking me whenever he could.
I eventually had enough and wrote an article that in retrospect wasn't my finest hour. Anyway, for the rest of his high school life, whenever he came into the gym for a pep rally, everyone barked at him like a dog.
No one really bothered me much after that.
Everything is relative, as we know so well, individualism particularly. Again, it's just a word, but within the context, it makes sense. Don't we all try to distinguish ourselves as we move on with out lives? The mentality of childhood changes, and 'belonging' takes on a different meaning as the scope of your world increases. So much more variation is acceptable now then it used to be, so the term 'individualism' has lost some of its potency.
I started a thread last week on my own author's forum titled, 'I'm the shy one at this orgy'. That pretty much describes how I always felt in crowds of whatever kind. But I have also enjoyed my independence and I am the type of person who could never easily simply blend in.
How about, 'I'm the only one at this orgy...' :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Bakker
Damn, I hate when that happens....
Yes, but that's a dimension of geekitude we don't need to get into. :rolleyes:Quote:
Damn, I hate when that happens....
I'm with ya on that one! I just started your book today, Scott. So far, so good. I'm also impressed with the maps. Nothing like a good map to go along with a good story. Cheers.