Hate it when geeks are portrayed as weak

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chris1989
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09 Mar 2019, 3:10 pm

I remember hearing someone once on a TV debate asking girls in public 'Would you date a geek?', many said yes but it annoyed me a bit when someone said she wouldn't because she'd prefer to go with someone who is very confident at a party whereas someone whose a geek they are not like that. Those were her words. I hate this view that someone who is for example an avid reader of books, likes to play games and so is seen as lacking confidence when it comes to meeting a girl and going out with them and someone who likes to go to the gym regularly, plays sports and so on are more confident and more attractive than a geeky person.



Prometheus18
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09 Mar 2019, 3:34 pm

I wouldn't think less of someone for reading books (on the contrary), but I would for an adult who plays video games, except a bare minimum amount.



Antrax
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09 Mar 2019, 4:18 pm

Prometheus18 wrote:
I wouldn't think less of someone for reading books (on the contrary), but I would for an adult who plays video games, except a bare minimum amount.


I enjoy reading fiction, I enjoy playing D&D table top roleplaying games, I enjoy playing online strategy games, I enjoy watching movies. Why are 4 of those acceptable adult behaviors, but one is not? (you never stated your opinion on movies or table top games, but they're generally considered acceptable adult behaviors)


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Prometheus18
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09 Mar 2019, 5:22 pm

The trouble with video games is the escapism; they involve a flight from reality and, in particular, one's duties within that reality. Of course, films do too, but the lack of immersion involved in the latter case makes them less dangerous.



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10 Mar 2019, 3:35 am

Don't take it to the heart Chris, it was just one girl, wasn't it?

It's not like stereotypes come from thin air. While there are confident geeky people and less confident sporty people, most sporty people tend to be more confident than an average geek (from my experience, anyway.) However, if you think of stereotypes, those also say that the very sporty men are usually arrogant and not so smart, no? There are negative stereotypes about all kinds of people.



Wolfram87
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10 Mar 2019, 5:32 am

A bit of a one-dimensional question. Seems a bit like "would you date the stereotype that comes to mind when I say the word "geek"?" rather than "would you date someone who has geeky qualities?".

I read a lot. I play DnD. I'm a gamer. I spend so much time on the internet I'd probably put it down as my home country if I could. I watch cartoons and anime and all manner of geeky films and tv-series. I am, by most reasonable metrics, a geek.

I've also done several years of full-contact martial arts training and my personal best for most pushups in a day is 1188. You'd have to stretch the label "weak" quite a bit to make it fit me. I'm a geek, but I'm not "just" a geek. That being said, I'm still an introvert, so you wouldn't find me being confident at a party, because I wouldn't be at the party except possibly by blackmail.


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HighLlama
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10 Mar 2019, 6:31 am

Prometheus18 wrote:
The trouble with video games is the escapism; they involve a flight from reality and, in particular, one's duties within that reality. Of course, films do too, but the lack of immersion involved in the latter case makes them less dangerous.


But, how do you know what all these gamers are thinking, and why must they all be playing games for the same escapist reason?



chris1989
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10 Mar 2019, 8:37 am

I enjoyed sports at school, I liked to doing basketball, trampolining, swimming and football but didn't like rugby though.



IstominFan
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10 Mar 2019, 8:54 am

I prefer someone who has a mix of interests, both intellectual and physical pursuits.

I agree about the video games. One can lose entire parts of a day playing them. There are more profitable uses of my time.



Prometheus18
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10 Mar 2019, 9:47 am

HighLlama wrote:
Prometheus18 wrote:
The trouble with video games is the escapism; they involve a flight from reality and, in particular, one's duties within that reality. Of course, films do too, but the lack of immersion involved in the latter case makes them less dangerous.


But, how do you know what all these gamers are thinking, and why must they all be playing games for the same escapist reason?


Although I haven't personally done any peer reviewed studies into the matter, it's pretty common knowledge and, indeed, implicit in the nature of the activity which, among other things, involves the recreation of fictitious worlds.



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11 Mar 2019, 8:08 am

IstominFan wrote:
I prefer someone who has a mix of interests, both intellectual and physical pursuits.

I agree about the video games. One can lose entire parts of a day playing them. There are more profitable uses of my time.


But that can also happen with watching TV. Or reading. Or writing. Or anything else if you're really in to it. Being too much in to anything is no good. Video games are completely harmless; trouble comes when wrong kind of people get their hands on wrong kinds of games and lose their touch to reality.



Fnord
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11 Mar 2019, 8:27 am

chris1989 wrote:
Hate it when geeks are portrayed as weak.
I hate it that only weak geeks are portrayed on TV and in the movies.

Strange, it is, that we seem to live longer (on the average) than most non-geeks seem to.



shortfatbalduglyman
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11 Mar 2019, 8:13 pm

Maybe stereotypes attract larger audience



cberg
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11 Mar 2019, 8:26 pm

Yeah, this cliche stereotype will be the death of me.

I've been hacking for over 18 years. I'm well aware that would have already killed most other people.


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11 Mar 2019, 8:34 pm

My dad was 100% a geek and nerd from what I've heard about him.
When he died he was a major in the army.


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15 Mar 2019, 11:05 pm

Well it has been my unhappy observation that in nearly every case the lovers of women are large men that look simple and unwise. As you look on television though and think to hear wise words from girls, from which I conclude you mean young women, might I suggest some urgent weight lifting and other things unrelated to the mind? Say what we will, if we wish to prosper in fellowship with the common man, we had better do as he does.