It is such a common element of culture but when I look closely it doesn't make too much sense.

What are the general characteristics of a nerd?

  • Smart and interested in academics.
  • Physically underdeveloped and bad at sports.
  • Socially awkward and unattractive.

Does this cluster make sense to you?

Sure, health problems can make you both unattractive (and subsequently awkward) and small/weak/uncoordinated. But what do smarts have to do with this? I'm guessing statistically a healthy kid is likely to do better at school than an unhealthy one.

So how do nerds come to be?

Is that because kids who don't do well socially are more motivated to excel academically?

Do smart cool athletic kids refrain from getting into nerd stuff because it's frowned upon in the cool circles?

Is being a nerd a sort of a "mild" autistic spectrum thing?

Also, a follow up question. Are nerds actually smarter on average by any measurement? Why or why not?

    • SuperNovaCouchGuy [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      What could be worse? Imo it all boils down to this.

      rightoids/brainwormed normies hate lgbt+ people because being lgbt+ is seen as weird, weak (failed as cishet so etc. etc.), and impotent (no hetero mating = no kids = not doing what porky and the market im sorry m'lord jesus christ says is right)

      virgin, a common insult, especially for men, adheres to this too, because no bitches = failed at impressing mate = no desirable characteristics = weak and impotent/weird

      ex: calling someone :le-pol-face: is a powerful insult because it taps into this ur-logic that is fundamental to the superstructure

      even calling someone any variation of "idiot/rtrd" adheres to this, because youre basically saying they are too mentally feeble/socially impotent to perform otherwise "correct" behaviour/arrive at the "correct" position, ableism against neurodiverse people spawns from this, because ND people make more social "blunders" than NT people and so liberaloid soyciety sees them as better targets due to this "weakness"

      the N-word is also a good example, because its basically calling someone a slave (weak/inferior) when used as an insult by non-black people

      every single one of the most "powerful" insults that usually end an argument/debate entail using a form of this logic to label your opponent as fundamentally inferior to either yourself or an ideal