Recession doing the west a favour!

[mattyman]

I say this because the days of one particlular anglo-american quirk, are numbered. All these negative stereotypes about nerds and geeks, all the ammo against people with introvert personally traits is all going to come to an end.
In Britain, ever since 2008 there have been a skyrocketing number of science and engineering programs on tv. During the 80's, thanks to Tyrant Thatcher, a lot of British industry was outsourced overseas. Now, with a recession, and no means of primary production, I think some people have realised the situation is not sustainable. Although the goverment here is obsessed with moneterism, generating wealth from non-existent money and punishing the poor for a crisis they didn't cause, I think that they're secretly shitting their pants about this fact. They're now desperately trying to get people interested in science, engineering and industry, using the media to do so, in the hope of investing in new industry to restart the economy. I think that this is great news for our culture, since all that persecution of geeks and nerds as well as intellect is going down the toilet.

I just hope the government doesn't f**k up economic recovery with their mad obsession of paying back the national debt, we have 12 years for god sake. Oh, the public are still too brainwashed to look out for such facts. anyway, that's a different topic altogether.

Do any of you guys remember a program that was on a few years back called beauty and the geek? My god what nerd-bashing, persecuting trash! How can someone be less attractive because of their interests? Fortunately a lot of that rubbish is going out of fashion now.

How bad's the nerd-bashing mentality in america? Are the anti-geek, anti-science stereotypes losing their fervor? I am hopeful that Britain is changing for the better in this respect.
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[The_Adventurer]

I don't know about in America, where I suspect it is still bad, but in Japan, this turn around happened years ago as evidence by the success of the blog-to-book-to-movie Train Man (Densha Otoko) and the wave that followed. WHat it came down to, in Japan at least, was that geeks make all the money. They have the largest disposal incomes in the market, and they spend that money, liberally, usually for their own entertainment, meaning PS3, DVD, expensive anime toys and so on. Girls realized they would just as gladly spend that money on them if they become the geek's girlfriends. Last time I was there, I saw a lot of ugly, nerdy, overweight and even older geeks, all with smoking hot young girlfriends.

Geeks drive the economy in Japan. They are creators. They create the technology and the entertainment the technology is used to consume. They are the entrepreneurs and idea people, and Japan, having become a somewhat passive, nonviolent, well organized society, has no place for macho men and jock types. (Except maybe in organized crime)

Some say it is just a fad, but the fact remains that geeks blow enough money on foolish pastimes to support a few girlfriends. In Japan, money is almost at the top of importance in all facets of life.

[Grunt]

Being that I am 41 now and have been married for a foreign girl for 6 years I am pretty much out of the loop. The only constant I see is the putrid nature of the American female. They learn nothing and they are simply too stupid to change, even the young ones. Time will tell.

[Jackal]

During the 80's, thanks to Tyrant Thatcher, a lot of British industry was outsourced overseas. Now, with a recession, and no means of primary production, I think some people have realised the situation is not sustainable.

Similar things happened in America. This is why the US needs foreign scientists to working on many of their classified weapons and technology programs, and--suprise, surprise--many of these foreign workers leak this info to the governments of their home countries. So, I doubt the US will retain technological superiority when foreign scientists are stealing and copying all their secrets for their home countries. Heck with Wiki Leaks, this phenomenon is "Classified Missile Technology Leaks."

They're now desperately trying to get people interested in science, engineering and industry, using the media to do so, in the hope of investing in new industry to restart the economy.

However, interest isn't enough. As a math major, I saw hundreds of students who thought they were interested in engineering wash out of the first and second year math courses.

So, once students get interested, they first need enough time to practice these skills and they need teachers who are smart enough to teach them those skills. If students are in lousy schools and are already several years behind in their math and science knowledge, then it's doubtful that just getting interested in science will enable them to catch up. Creating scientists and engineers is a long-term process.

It's just like there are tons of kids now who think they want to be Navy SEALs, but they have spent too much time in front of their Playstations and too little time exercising, so they drop out of the training quickly. Proper preparation is half the battle.

How bad's the nerd-bashing mentality in america? Are the anti-geek, anti-science stereotypes losing their fervor? I am hopeful that Britain is changing for the better in this respect.

I don't know because I haven't been back to the US in years, but the culture there doesn't change much. The US has always been anti-geek except when the geeks in question are rich or build essential or deadly technologies. Americans certainly don't care about intellectualism for intellectualism's sake.

Most Americans worship money. If Bill Gates brought an attractive, 18-year-old American girl into a room and told her to have sex with him, she might hesitate at first, but as he continues to lay down 100-dollar bills on the table, eventually a price will be reached which will break down the girl's defenses and make her consent. Some women might have integrity and can't be bought, but most don't and just have a secret inner price.

It's like the story about Winston Churchill asking a female aristocrat if she would sleep with a man for a very large amount of money (several million dollars), and after thinking for a little bit, she replies, "Yes." Then he asks her if she would sleep with the same man for 100 dollars, and she replies, "Of course not! I'm not a whore!" Churchill replies, "We've already determined that. Now we're just negotiating on price."

[Grunt]

Jackal pretty much nails it. I tell my wife all the time that if little green men from Mars landed here on Earth, and had enough bling, females would all start rushing after those little green men from Mars.

[jamesbond]

Henry Kissinger said, what turns women on the most is guys in positions of power. His exact quote was, "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac."

[The_Adventurer]

I think Momopi's strong concubine said the same thing, didn't she?

[ajushi]

From my experience, guys like that are mostly f***ed here in the USA. There are some exceptions for sure, where a geek marries a geek, but rare. I have meet geeks here who have never been with a woman at all...

However, I may not be qualified to answer the question because I have really been unable to figure out what the standards are that American women hold us to. High paying job, athletic, and good looking. and treating the woman well have all failed miserably for me...... I definitely found one really wonderful American woman who I could and would have married but there was no chemistry between us. I am definitely not a geek myself..... but I know a guy who is an ultra geek and he is happily married for 10 years to a beautiful woman.... and she stayed with him even though he spent the first several years of their marriage working on a generic bachelors degree and then going on to work at a 10 dollar per hour job at a bicycle shop. this shows that income, looks, interests etc have nothing to do with anything .

[YoucancallmeAl]

this shows that income, looks, interests etc have nothing to do with anything .

Not at all. All it shows is that sometimes there are exceptions.

[aozora13]

YoucancallmeAl is correct. That is only the exception not the rule. In other circumstances, if the guy was not earning around $60k or more at times, she would have left him. There a relatively few women who would just follow a man because something about him made her follow him. Other than that, I have never seen it happen at all.

[Think Different]

"I don't know because I haven't been back to the US in years, but the culture there doesn't change much. The US has always been anti-geek except when the geeks in question are rich or build essential or deadly technologies. Americans certainly don't care about intellectualism for intellectualism's sake."

There's a good book about this, I think I posted in the book section, called "Anti-Intellectualism in America". Basically, if it doesn't earn you another buck or lead to getting rich, Americans consider it a waste of time, whatever the endeavor. That would include most book learning, classical education, miscellaneous factoids, etc. Money is ALWAYS the ultimate goal.

Reminds me of a friend of mine, who is a brilliant computer/car/motorcycle guy, but those are the only 3 topics he can converse about. Conversations get pretty boring, pretty quickly, with him.

[momopi]

America cares about success. It doesn't matter if you're a geek. If you're Mark Zuckerberg (net work $6.9 billion) and entered the room, people will turn heads.

Winston talks about how the "system" brainwashes you to be an 8-5 slave worker, but in all the years that I've been in school (my highest degree is MBA), I've never once been taught that getting an 8-5 job was glamorous or even desirable. Back in high school I went to the counselor's office over a fight I had with another student, and they had a big poster on the wall showing a Miami Vice style mansion with several sports cars parked outside, and a caption that read "SUCCESS". My immediate thought was, "d@mn I need to be a Colombian drug lord!" Which was probably not their intention.

[Rock]

America cares about success. It doesn't matter if you're a geek. If you're Mark Zuckerberg (net work $6.9 billion) and entered the room, people will turn heads.

Winston talks about how the "system" brainwashes you to be an 8-5 slave worker, but in all the years that I've been in school (my highest degree is MBA), I've never once been taught that getting an 8-5 job was glamorous or even desirable. Back in high school I went to the counselor's office over a fight I had with another student, and they had a big poster on the wall showing a Miami Vice style mansion with several sports cars parked outside, and a caption that said "SUCCESS". My immediate thought was "d@mn I need to be a Colombian drug lord" which was probably not their intention.

In my last school, the generally understood definition of a failure was someone who became a bean counter (accountant) or went into human resources (bitches for the operating managers). 8-5 paper shuffling cubicle work was for brain dead automatons. At best, it was considered a very temporary stepping stone to something more inspiring.

[Grunt]

Feminism is a societal cancer. Once it appears, the culture has a death sentence. Only a total collapse or fragmentation of the culture will change anything.

Its like that species of deer that went extinct because all the female deer would ONLY mate with the ONE buck that had THE biggest set of antlers. Problem was, the male deer with the biggest antlers could not escape predators (humans or otherwise) because he was unable to navigate in wooded areas due to his (you guessed it) HUGE ANTLERS!

The men that are able to make millions or billions usually have a deep-seated and severe personality disorders (sociopath, etc) that helped them get that money. Think Bill Gates or even Steve Jobs.

Thus propagating the theory that only fuckwits are rewarded in this culture. f**k your fellow man, get lots of money and p***y.

Till the whole system breaks down because people are just too obsessed with stabbing each other in the back to do much else.

[BellaRuth]

In my last school, the generally understood definition of a failure was someone who became a bean counter (accountant) or went into human resources (bitches for the operating managers). 8-5 paper shuffling cubicle work was for brain dead automatons. At best, it was considered a very temporary stepping stone to something more inspiring.

That's crazy. Being an accountant or going into HR is a failure? That's perfectly respectable here. Did you go to Harvard?!

I keep getting surprised at how much America focuses on careers and money. That must cause some pretty serious issues. Every country needs people to do different jobs. And anyway, your life shouldn't be around your job- what about the bigger picture? At the end of the day you live for your family, friends, your dreams, travelling... not impressing a stranger by telling them what you do.