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The False Modesty of 'Nerds'
Townhall.com ^ | May 2, 2012 | Jonah Goldberg

Posted on 05/02/2012 11:19:18 AM PDT by Kaslin

Washington is full of nerds. I know. I speak nerd, not fluently mind you, at least not anymore. But I certainly know more than a few phrases memorized from a Berlitz nerd-to-English phrase book. I can talk Dungeons & Dragons (both D&D and AD&D). I know about the Golden Age of Comics (as in comic books -- if you thought that was a reference to Bob Newhart's heyday, subtract 20 nerd points right there).

Anyway, if you spend any time in Washington you'll find nerds. What happens is most of them sublimate their fixations with comics, or baseball cards, or 1960s British comedies to policy minutiae and political arcana. But, like Christians in ancient Rome, you can still spot them if you know the signals.

Some are quite successful. I once spent a half-hour with one of the most respected (liberal) political analysts in Washington talking about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It was like discovering he was from my homeland. Or consider Paul Krugman; I strongly suspect that the Nobel Prize winner and New York Times columnist is a nerd. He says he was inspired to become an economist, by the "psychohistorians" in Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" novels. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is a Batman fanatic.

But these and other examples notwithstanding, nerds tend not to be "front of the store" types. In "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," Steve Carell spent most of his career working the back room because it's understood that's where people like him belong.

The same goes in Washington. The vast majority of the nerds crunch the numbers for the politicians and news anchors. They explain why the stats are important to people like, say, NBC's David Gregory, who seems to be biding his time until he can achieve his real dream of hosting "Entertainment Tonight."

Many of the beautiful women you see on TV aren't nerds. That doesn't mean they're not smart. But even if they were study geeks in high school, that doesn't mean they were nerds. In the movie "Election," Reese Witherspoon plays an earnest, dorky, driven young woman, but she's not a nerd. Holly Hunter in "Broadcast News" isn't one either -- she's a maniacally self-serious bore. Tina Fey in "30 Rock"? All nerd, baby.

So why am I telling you this? Because, suddenly, we're supposed to call the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner the "nerd prom." Hundreds of media outlets have recycled that description.

And, frankly, I find it offensive. George Clooney doesn't go to "nerd proms." Nor do Kim Kardashian and Lindsay Lohan. I've been to a half-dozen correspondents' dinners, and nerds were far less well-represented than rent-seeking K-street sleazeballs, social-climbing poseurs and power-hungry pols of all parties.

Look, everything is relative, and social distinctions tend to matter only at your own level and above. If you're the prom queen or the captain of the football team, everyone outside your clique is a nerd. And if you're the czar, everyone outside the royal court is a peasant. For good reasons and bad, Washington is a magnet for sports stars, war heroes and businessmen. That doesn't make them nerds.

We have never had a nerd president. All of them tend to have a mixture of resentment, admiration and contempt for the nerds. And that goes especially for Barack Obama, who, more than most, seems to care deeply about seeming cool.

The elite D.C. press corps calls its annual gala the "nerd prom" because it sounds self-deprecating around the Hollywood stars and New York bigwigs (while actually playing on their insecurities) and the politicians. They admire the former for being more famous than them, and resent the latter for being more famous than them.

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.

Now don't get me wrong. I also have contempt for the people who flock to the dinner in order to cozy up to power for the sake of bragging about cozying up to power. In his mixed performance at this year's "nerd prom," late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said, "Everything that is wrong with America is here in this room." He was right. He wasn't talking about the nerds.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: circlejerk; dnctalkingpoints; echochamber; mediabias; nerdprom; obamunism; presstitutes; zogbyism
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To: Kaslin

"NERDS!"

21 posted on 05/02/2012 12:18:33 PM PDT by dfwgator (Don't wake up in a roadside ditch. Get rid of Romney.)
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To: Kaslin

Call it what it was, the douchebag prom celebrating our first douchebag president.


22 posted on 05/02/2012 12:25:29 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Barack Obama has cut and run from what he called "the right war".)
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To: Kaslin

Geeks and nerds are distinct types. A geek is someone very focused on a particular hobby or activity, usually with considerable knowledge or ability in that area.

A nerd is someone lacking social skills who compensates by choosing activities that avoid social interaction with ‘normals’.

The two types can overlap but they are distinct. Steve Jobs was a computer geek; he wasn’t a nerd.


23 posted on 05/02/2012 12:26:00 PM PDT by Gideon7
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To: Kaslin
I wouldn't call Obama a nerd. He's the black version of the spoiled rich kid.

There aren't a lot of nerds in politics. Most nerds I know hate everything about politics.

24 posted on 05/02/2012 12:32:01 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (The Republican Party is bigger than the presidency.)
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To: Tax-chick
Dorks have no there, and cause discomfort to themselves and others as they try to pretend they do.

John Kerry is the poster-boy of the term dork.

25 posted on 05/02/2012 12:36:02 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (The Republican Party is bigger than the presidency.)
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To: Kaslin

Nerds can be semi-respectable.

I would use Fred Blassie’s expression for them, “Pencil-necked Geeks”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNM4atakanI


26 posted on 05/02/2012 12:46:30 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: GonzoGOP

We could do a lot worse than Calvin Coolidge. When it came to the U.S. economy, he pretty much just let it run itself. The stock market boomed and prosperity spread.

When asked why he never turned down an invitation to any function of any kind, Cal replied, “Well, a man’s got to eat.”

His White House staff was miniscule. Coolidge was a caretaker President and knew his limitations, including a second term, which he turned down in 1928.

We could do a lot worse than Silent Cal and we already have, IMO.


27 posted on 05/02/2012 12:51:01 PM PDT by elcid1970 (Nuke the Aswan High Dam, then nuke Mecca. Death to Islam means freedom for all mankind.")
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To: elcid1970
We could do a lot worse than Silent Cal

Actually it is hard to do better. Three times, perhaps four. But he is definitely in my top five.
28 posted on 05/02/2012 12:53:30 PM PDT by GonzoGOP (There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
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To: GonzoGOP
My second favorite “Silent Cal” story...

A woman approached President Coolidge and said “My friends bet me I could get you to say more than two words.”

He looked at her and replied “You lose.”.

My FAVORITE “Silent Cal” story.....

He and the First Lady were touring a chicken farm separately - as they often did. When the farmer got embarrassed about a rooster making a big production out of mating a hen the First Lady asked him...

“How many times a day would you say that rooster has his way with a hen?”

“About twenty times a day.” the farmer replied.

“Be sure to tell the President that.” she remarked.

When the President was told, he replied “Every time the same hen?”

“No, every time a different hen.” the farmer answered.

“tell THAT to the First Lady!”.

In behavioral science this is called “the Coolidge effect” where a male will not sexually respond to a presenting female he has already inseminated - but will somehow muster up the gumption to mate with a new female.

29 posted on 05/02/2012 1:03:27 PM PDT by allmendream (Tea Party did not send GOP to DC to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism)
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To: Darren McCarty
John Kerry is the poster-boy of the term dork.

Excellent observation.

30 posted on 05/02/2012 2:26:57 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Do you know why I love reptiles? It's because they don't play guitars or ukuleles.)
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To: pabianice

How about discussing all 79 episodes of original Star Trek episodes LOL!


31 posted on 05/02/2012 2:28:04 PM PDT by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: pabianice

How about discussing all 79 episodes of original Star Trek episodes LOL!


32 posted on 05/02/2012 2:28:23 PM PDT by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: GonzoGOP

I think Coolidge is good, although he gets a lot of credit for what Harding did. Harding was corrupt, but in retrospect was a quite effective president.


33 posted on 05/02/2012 4:30:37 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (The Republican Party is bigger than the presidency.)
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To: SevenofNine

>>How about discussing all 79 episodes of original Star Trek episodes LOL!

Not a problem!

Some years ago there was a special on TV about science fiction. Some top sci fi writers were interviewed. One question: why, until recently, were devoted followers of sci fi almost exclusively young men? One writer replied: “Who sits around thinking a lot about a sci fi future? Teenage boys who can’t get dates!” LOL!


34 posted on 05/03/2012 7:12:54 AM PDT by pabianice (ame with)
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To: Tax-chick

A geek is a circus performer in a side-show “Wild Man” act ... he bites the heads off of small animals, for the amusement of the crowd.


35 posted on 05/03/2012 7:19:31 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: ArrogantBustard

Outdated definition!


36 posted on 05/03/2012 7:43:00 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Do you know why I love reptiles? It's because they don't play guitars or ukuleles.)
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To: Tax-chick
Stuff and nonsense!

BTW, do you know why I love reptiles?

Because they taste good.

37 posted on 05/03/2012 7:52:41 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: ArrogantBustard

I’ve never been hungry enough to eat a reptile.


38 posted on 05/03/2012 9:06:15 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Do you know why I love reptiles? It's because they don't play guitars or ukuleles.)
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To: pabianice

OH YEAH I do remember that ROFL


39 posted on 05/03/2012 9:18:23 AM PDT by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: pabianice

OH YEAH I do remember that ROFL


40 posted on 05/03/2012 9:18:42 AM PDT by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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