I used to love nerds. Or at least, I loved the idea of nerds. In the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, there was an endless stream of movies and media, from “Revenge of the Nerds” to “Spider-Man” to “Beauty and the Geek,” dedicated to telling women that they’d be better off with nerds than with the arrogant jocks who would grunt cavemanlike in response to anything women said, before kicking sand in a nerd’s face.
Nerds were smart and decent underdogs who just needed a good-hearted lady to notice them and maybe get them a pair of contact lenses.
Boy, that stereotype does not hold up in 2018.
On the one hand we have “nerds” that:
- Harass female colleagues in tech companies
- Harass women during Gamergate
- Hang out on incel boards “talking about how Elliot Rodger was right to kill “blonde sorority sluts.””
- Elon Musk, “King of the Nerds”, “tweeted that a diver who assisted in rescuing 12 boys trapped in a cave in Thailand was a pedophile.”
- Chloe Dykstra, the ex-girlfriend of the Nerdist founder Chris Hardwick (whom Rolling Stone has called “King of the Nerds”), wrote in an essay that her boyfriend of three years had emotionally and sexually abused her.
Nerds are the overdogs now. If they got into tech early, they’re obscenely wealthy, and all of America now likes the stuff they enjoyed as kids. But they’re not wielding that power in a way that is especially kind or thoughtful.
On the other hand:
- On July 30, the N.B.A. star LeBron James opened a school in Akron, Ohio, that promises free lunches, bicycles and tuition to all its students, as well as guaranteed tuition at the University of Akron for all of its graduates. Many on Twitter pointed out that this might be a more generous use of wealth than attempting to fund space travel, as Mr. Musk hopes to do.
- Last week, another N.B.A. player, Stephen Curry, raised over $21,000 through a live-streamed event to help benefit the family of Nia Wilson, a young woman who was stabbed to death at a train station in Oakland, Calif.
- In June, the former N.F.L. player-turned-actor Terry Crews gave Senate testimony in which he spoke about having been sexually assaulted and warned against the “cult of toxic masculinity” that led him to believe he was more important than women.
- And of course there’s Colin Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback, who drew national attention to police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem.
In response to the peaceful protests Mr. Kaepernick inspired, President Trump suggested N.F.L. owners should “get that son of a bitch off the field right now.” In a fit of truly bizarre pettiness last September, the president uninvited Mr. Curry to the White House after Mr. Curry said he did not plan to go. On Aug. 3, after Mr. James criticized Mr. Trump during an interview about the new school, Mr. Trump tweeted, “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do.” Mr. Curry quickly responded that the tweet was “based in some longstanding racism.”
The article fails to mention several important things:
- “Nerds” are deplorably often found among the Alt-Right and most toxic, hateful, racist boards like Reddit.
- Cited examples of “good jocks” are black. Cited examples of the “bad jocks” (Josh Hader of the Milwaukee Brewers and Sean Newcomb of the Atlanta Braves) are white. The article fails to emphasize that.
I think the article is right in delivering one simple clear message – “nerds” should not get a free pass anymore. Abused became abusers. They failed, by and large, to live up to be responsible with the newfound power of our modern age. It’s time for them to admit that and change accordingly. Meanwhile the society must learn to appreciate the heroes that already contribute greatly to it.
Do you agree? What is your opinion? Where do you stand in this debate?