John Hodgman On the Coming Geek Culture 401
An anonymous reader writes "Famous writer and minor television personality John Hodgman posits the end of the culture of Jockdom in favor of a cultural reverence for engineers, scientists and Slashdot readers: 'Jockdom is very noble. It's not deliberative. It's certainly the best way to win wars. It's the best way to motivate teams of people to fulfill a goal — not just war, but getting things done. The most important way to motivate a factory floor. But as you know, we're not as much of a manufacturing society as we were before. China and other big industrial nations are rewarding their nerds and technicians rather than creating a culture that makes fun of them — it would be wise for us to embrace the book-smart as much as our culture has traditionally embraced the street-smart, the jock-smart. I'm not saying nerds must have their revenge; I'm just saying the time for wedgies is at an end.'"
I for one (Score:5, Funny)
Hey? (Score:3, Funny)
Isn't that the guy who played spider-man in those movies???
NERD ALERT!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Pffft, who's gonna listen to this pathetic, whinging, scrawny little dweeb?
Re:Maybe people should be more well-rounded (Score:5, Funny)
<sarcasm>
Right - people get picked on in high school because they're not sufficiently well rounded. That was exactly my experience.
How clearly I remember the captain of the wrestling team accosting me in gym class in my sophomore year, throwing me against the wall, and sneering, "You know, you could really benefit from a more diverse set of interests."
</sarcasm>
Re:I for one (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I for one (Score:3, Funny)
I, for one, welcome myself as one of our new overlords.
Well, I welcome myself as one of the new supply depots
FFC's Bram Stoker's BattleStar Galactica? (Score:4, Funny)
Hodgman ... played minor parts in Tina Fey's Baby Mama, Ricky Gervais' The Invention of Lying and Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Battlestar Galactica.
No wonder the ending of BSG was so out there. Too many chefs spoil the stew.
Re:Hey? (Score:5, Funny)
Turn in your Nerd Card because you fail. That's John Hodgeman, better known as the PC in the Mac ads.
Here, I'll get the rest of the thread out of the way:
"I thought that was the guy on Mystery Science Theater 3000."
"That's Joel Hodgson."
"No, he was on Miami Vice."
"That's Don Johnson!"
"He hosted Hollywood Squares!"
"Tom Bergeron!"
"Brother of Menelaus!"
"Damn it, that's AGAMEMNON!"
(Yes, I stole the last few items from Frisky Dingo.)
Re:I for one (Score:5, Funny)
It's time for nerds to rise up yet again. Throughout modern history in the US, celebration of the nerd has resulted in unprecedented economic prosperity and global economic domination.
From the idolization of Einstein, Feynman, and other physicists, arose the economic superpower that dominated much of the world in the 1950s and 60s.
In the 80s, we were captivated by the message of Revenge of the Nerds, and on the shoulders of this movie we came to dominate the new era of Information.
Ladies, gentlemen: Now is the time. Now is the time to rise up from our comfy chairs, to rise up from our futons, to rise up from the depths of our basements! We must rise up as one united voice of nerd-dom, and speak to the mouthbreathers who have ground us beneath their bootheels since time immemorial. We must tell them:
Sorry, gotta go AFK.
Originally posted here [slashdot.org].
Re:Not mutually exclusive (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Maybe people should be more well-rounded (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Maybe people should be more well-rounded (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe you were too sarcastic in high school?
A lot of people don't like that, you know.
Really? You don't say?
Re:I for one (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, well I require more Pylons.
Re:Sad (Score:5, Funny)
Psst, hey, French guy. C'mere.....
At first, I was wondering where this vitriolic rant came from, and from which country you could be from. Then I saw "France", and it all became clear. I'm not going to scream and yell, really, because I understand that this kind of a tantrum comes from a massive inferiority complex that the French collective psyche carries around. Hey, it's okay, really. Once proud imperial power, now relegated to getting wedgies from upstart nations that you once toyed with. You need a hug, and maybe a good solid "There, there" and a pat on the back. Then you'll bawl for a bit, check under your bed for Germans, and go back to sleep 'till morning. I know, it's hard to look around seeing American stuff *everywhere*, when you know deep in your heart that it's just not fair! "That should be French culture that's slipping it's tendrils into the lives of people around the globe, not American! Those jocks, er, I mean Americans don't deserve all the attention that us nerds, er, I mean Frenchmen should be getting on the world-stage!" you cry out. Then the U.S. gives you another wedgie and stupid England just snickers in that annoying way it has, and you're just left *steaming*.
Oh, and "big jewy loser"? Really?
As an aside, you've completely missed the point of all those movies you are so angry about. It's not that people identify with the "loser" character in those movies. It's that Americans like to root for the underdog. Maybe that's a cultural difference, maybe France prefers to "root for the winner", I don't know, but somewhere something seems to be getting lost in the translation.
Re:I for one (Score:5, Funny)
I believe that's: Blessed are the 1337, for they shall pwn the Earth.
Thus ends our reading of the scr1ptures.
Re:Maybe people should be more well-rounded (Score:5, Funny)
Hmmm... Perhaps they did something in another field which, if you applied it to yourself, might help get your count back on track.
Re: reminds me of a joke (Score:5, Funny)
'My political team is the best because it was my dad's and they best stoke my primitive fears,' as opposed to 'They have the best policies for me and my family.'
That reminds me of an old joke:
Q: "Why are you a republican?"
A: "Well, because my father was a republican, and my father's father was a republican."
Q: "What if your father was a horse thief, and your father's father was a horse thief?"
A: "Well, then I'd probably be a democrat."
haw haw /registered independent
Re:Hey? (Score:5, Funny)
What I find really amusing is that the guy who plays the dorky PC is in reality far cooler than the guy who plays the "cool" macintosh.
Re:Hey? (Score:4, Funny)
"Hello I'm Linux..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-L-0s-7-Z0 [youtube.com]
"But with youses guyses computer, you work for the computer..... Linux is the infinite possibility of community!"
An even older one (Score:4, Funny)