The False Modesty of 'Nerds'

Townhall.com ^ | May 2, 2012 | Jonah Goldberg

[GonzoGOP]

We have never had a nerd president. All of them tend to have a mixture of resentment, admiration and contempt for the nerds.

I disagree.

His motto may have been keep "cool and keep Coolidge". But he was all nerd, all the time.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

We have never had a nerd president.

Calvin Coolidge?

[mountn man]

Nerds???

Thats not what they call them

[lazypadawan]

The real nerd proms are Comic Con and DragonCon. True nerds/geeks/fanboys/fangirls know this.

[Berlin_Freeper]

I think it is less than that. The Left doesn’t develop mentally and emotionally beyond prom night.

In this way they can relate, while also hoping not to end up sitting lonely at the bar (as usual).

The big problem they have is knowing how much each of them suck, so every year is a big disappointment (just like their real prom was). But at least they get to fake laugh for a few hours.

[Kaslin]

I didn't post the picture, that was in the article in Townhall, but who looks like a bigger nerd, Coolidge or 0bama. Judge for yourself

Personally I think Not only does 0bama look like a nerd, He even looks like an arrogant nerd that he is

[pabianice]

Sorry. If you can’t discuss all 214 episodes of “Stargate: SG-1,” you cannot be a real nerd. Nice try, though.

[pabianice]

Extra points for discussing it in Ancient.

[Sirius Lee]

Seriously, who does that? Every picture of the kenyan has his nose up in the air like he’s smelling his own farts and liking it. It’s that whole Il Duce and Stalin thing. In fact he probably learned it from two of his biggest heroes.

[Tax-chick]

There’s a difference between “nerd” and “dork.” Nerds have some there, there, even if it’s not as useful as being a geek. Dorks have no there, and cause discomfort to themselves and others as they try to pretend they do.

[SargeK]

Whovians.

[GonzoGOP]

A nerd would have his nose in a book, not in the air. Obama is a poser, that is completely different than a nerd.

[SargeK]

My experience with Congressional staffers of both parties is that a plurality, perhaps the majority of them, are gay, not nerds (although the two are not mutually exclusive).

That revelation helped me to understand the outsized influence they have on law and policy. Most congresscritters resemble no one more than Mel Brook's Governor William J. Le Petomane from Blazing Saddles. This is how crap like Obeymecare gets made into law.

[Rummyfan]

It's vanity-as-branding. What they're really trying to say is: "The only difference between this and the Oscars is we're really smart." It's of a piece with the seemingly self-deprecating, but really self-serving, slogan "Washington is Hollywood for ugly people." No, it's really not.

[Rummyfan]

Harumph! We've got to protect our phoney-baloney jobs!

[Kaslin]

You’re right about that. I didn’t think about it

[NietzschesJoker]

Exactly. It is important to distinguish between the three designations. Characteristics often overlap, but generally:

Dorks are awkward and tend not to fit in anywhere;

Geeks get really into a hobby or activity that has limited appeal and utility; and

Nerds are smart people who tend to become experts in a useful (or broadly interesting) field of study.

This is why typically you don’t hear people calling themselves geeks or especially dorks. Whenever people self-refer as nerds they are complimenting themselves.

[Tax-chick]

I live with a terrifying array of geeks and nerds. Classifying them is sort of a hobby ...

[longtermmemmory]

cue the hot girls at comicon pics.