Are people who look down on geeks "jealous?"

EDIT: Here at TV Tropes on a nostalgia trip, and looking at the JROTC thread made me think of other threads where athleticism was being discussed. One particular post in the other one was somewhat reasonable but inarticulate... but my posts in this thread had projection at their core. Nerds are not just nerds, and though I've had moments of being a bit jealous of those who were nerdy in more practical ways than I was, that had no bearing on what jealousy has to do with anything on the part of others. Not sure whether I may have realized that more than I let on or not.

edited 11th Apr '15 10:16:13 AM by neoYTPism

I think that people's natural distaste for those different from themselves contributes a lot to it.

Geeks are the butt monkey. Most people don't even have an actual reason to look down on them and simply jump on the bandwagon. I don't think there's any jealousy involved, at all.

edited 7th Jul '11 8:05:18 AM by fanty

I never bought the "They're just jealous" thing in any situation.

"They're jealous of our freedom" "They're just jealous you're smarter than them" Etc etc.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike geeks that don't involve envy. Think about the traits associated with geeks and nerds, and you should have a list consisting of socially unacceptable behaviours. And some not so socially unacceptable behaviours, of course, but it's in the nature of stereotypes that conforming in some ways causes people to assume the worst.

People look down on other people for all kinds of reasons.

Also, "geek" is basically a meaningless term by now: it's even worse than "hipster", I think.

The only thing that "geeks" have in common is, it seems to me, a frankly unwarranted belief that others dislike them because of their interests. Protip: no one really cares if you collect silver age comics, or know entirely too much about carnivorous plants, or watch anime, or play football, or whatever — well, the second one I mentioned is, frankly, more awesome than the others, at least as far as I am concerned, but eh.

edited 7th Jul '11 9:17:24 AM by Carciofus

I'd agree up to a point, but I think there are certain things that it's considered a bit strange to be an avid fan of. Like, stamp collecting, or rare birds, and I think traditional geek interests like comicbooks and anime also fall into that category. It's OK if you have other interests as well and you're not a complete social misfit, but a lot of geek interests really are considered a bit sad, I think.

I think it's the other way around. We live in a masculine, hard-ass culture, and geeks have used libertatirsm as well as other avenues to make their C++ knowlege seem more macho than people who don't know C++.

It's basically a numbers game: the more something's universally loved, the less one is despised for loving it. You can e totally dorked-out out on sports and still get general social approval; not so with anime, or sci-fi.

I notice the "it's ok as long as it's not too much" argument only comes out regarding relatively niche interests, like the kind we're into here. It's fine 'n' dandy to be a Man U otaku, or somesuch or, if you're American, a Jesus otaku (I view religion as just socially-approved sci-fi fandom, really).

Not if you live in Chelsea it bloody isn't.

edited 7th Jul '11 9:52:20 AM by JosefBugman

I guess the question is, how do you define "geek" in this context? I mean, I tend to look down on otakus (of any stripe) because obsessively doing anything is sort of dumb. It's not that I'm jealous, it's that I think it's stupid to devote your entire life to something that will never be anything more than a hobby.

From what I am used to, Geek means "not having an interest in sports, or partying"

Well, that's it as well. A lot of aspects of the geek stereotype really do make a person pretty offputting or unapproachable seeming, dislike of parties, sports and similarly mainstream social activities being a prime example. Similarly, it's not much fun hanging around with a person who you know is going to nitpick everything you say about a certain subject, or a person who gets fiercely competitive over something nobody else cares about like games console brands, operating systems or web browsers.

edited 7th Jul '11 10:03:27 AM by BobbyG

@Bobby: Back in the days before tech, we called people like that "squares".

"dislike of parties, sports and similarly mainstream social activities"

Explains my 0% Approval Rating!

edited 7th Jul '11 10:14:55 AM by MRDA1981

@Drunk G But it's hip to be square!

That you still use the word "square" proves that you are... well, not square, certainly...

This is hard.

Anyone who thinks that people who hate on nerds and geeks are just jealous is a bit guilty of hubris.

They might be jealous, though they don't have to be. They could just be colossal fucking tools.

I think this is more wishful thinking than anything else. Although a very small number of people may bully geeks because of jealousy, most of the time it is more because the 'geeks' fail to comply with mainstream social standards. It is distaste for people who are different or accidentally off-putting. I'm certain that there is a whole rainbow of other reasons though.

In related news, the Troper Tales page makes me want to claw my eyes out with a rusty eating utensil.

edited 7th Jul '11 3:13:32 PM by Pentadragon

^

Yes, yes it does. Avoid it at all costs.

Oh troper tales, where else can you see people honestly calling themselves badass every couple of seconds.

Anyway, I don't think people are "jealous" of geeks, I mean what defines a geek that might provoke jealousy?

Thread Hop: No.

No, they just looked down on me because I was shorter than everyone else.