"nerds now have money, power, and status", and "mainstream culture has shifted from mocking us to respecting us" with, "GamerGate made me ashamed to be a gamer"
Nerds are still the butt of the joke, and still get the negative media attention. Gamergate is the perfect example of this. The media spin has been enormous, and not in "nerd" favor. I don't know how many times I've seen "fat sweaty basement dwelling nerd" thrown around during the ordeal. If the nerds had really won, certainly the nerds would get the spin, or at least a proper voice. No, This guy has obviously just been reading the mainstream, otherwise he'd know that the death threats, harassment, and other terrible elements of internet culture have been thrown equally at pro-gamergate supporters.
The nerds haven't won yet, not even close. Some nerds and elements of culture have merely gone mainstream, but nerds themselves are still pariah at large. In TV they're still black-faced by shows like The Big Bang Theory and Scorpion. Negative stereotypes still rule public perception. I would equate what's happening now to the rise of Jazz and The Blues in early America. Many whites during this time were accepting of some black musicians (enough to listen to them), but blacks themselves at large didn't benefit from the popularity of the media they'd largely created.
Are there issues in the community? Yes. There is in any, and they should be addressed reasonably. But only because that's the right thing to do, not because nerds have "the power" now and have a responsibility to do right by it as such. Most of the money and power they have is locked up by non-nerd businessmen, investors, and a select few nerds who have taken nerd labors and interests and made them profitable and mainstream.
So for the time being, while the mainstream is so bent on portraying nerds so insultingly and wrong, they should keep not listening. Nerds should solve these problems from their own ranks, and not from impartial bystanders. Nerds have gotten better over the years, and almost none of it because the detractors.
"nerds now have money, power, and status", and "mainstream culture has shifted from mocking us to respecting us" with, "GamerGate made me ashamed to be a gamer"
Nerds are still the butt of the joke, and still get the negative media attention. Gamergate is the perfect example of this. The media spin has been enormous, and not in "nerd" favor. I don't know how many times I've seen "fat sweaty basement dwelling nerd" thrown around during the ordeal. If the nerds had really won, certainly the nerds would get the spin, or at least a proper voice. No, This guy has obviously just been reading the mainstream, otherwise he'd know that the death threats, harassment, and other terrible elements of internet culture have been thrown equally at pro-gamergate supporters.
The nerds haven't won yet, not even close. Some nerds and elements of culture have merely gone mainstream, but nerds themselves are still pariah at large. In TV they're still black-faced by shows like The Big Bang Theory and Scorpion. Negative stereotypes still rule public perception. I would equate what's happening now to the rise of Jazz and The Blues in early America. Many whites during this time were accepting of some black musicians (enough to listen to them), but blacks themselves at large didn't benefit from the popularity of the media they'd largely created.
Are there issues in the community? Yes. There is in any, and they should be addressed reasonably. But only because that's the right thing to do, not because nerds have "the power" now and have a responsibility to do right by it as such. Most of the money and power they have is locked up by non-nerd businessmen, investors, and a select few nerds who have taken nerd labors and interests and made them profitable and mainstream.
So for the time being, while the mainstream is so bent on portraying nerds so insultingly and wrong, they should keep not listening. Nerds should solve these problems from their own ranks, and not from impartial bystanders. Nerds have gotten better over the years, and almost none of it because the detractors.