Do Society Hate Smart People?

yizuman

yizuman

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We've all seen nerds, geeks, brainiacs and other high intellectuals being made fun of in every shape and form, whether it be from TV, Movies, Books and other means to get the message out that somebody out there hates smart people.

Fans of Star Trek hated the character Wesley Crusher (played by the cool Wil Wheaton in real life) because he is too smart.

On "Good Times", the character Michael was shown to be a genius, especially in math, but later on in the series, his "genius" was downplayed because because fans complained that being smart was not "black enough" and was being labeled as a "Uncle Tom" because of his attitude was shown as being too white. :shock:

It seemed that today, black folks wear low pants, talk black "ebonics" and listen to popular rap music. When Bill Cosby came to the scene on stage a couple of years ago complaining, "Pull your pants up and speak english!" while Jesse Jackson looks on with an expression on his face as it seemed to say, "Wow, what an Uncle Tom!"

Then you have a TV series Big Bang Theory where you have Geniuses as a comedy and they act stupid and smart at the same time.

With the exception and appreciation from the Sci Fi community, smart people like the characters from Stargate SG-1 who have 2 characters as being smart, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter who are not only being shown as smart, but sexy as well.

Why the stereotypes of smart people? Seems that being smart is being given the thumbs down by mainstream society and all the while they use their cell phones, ipods, computers that has been created by smart people, yet show no appreciation towards men like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Go figure..... :scratch:

Yiz
 
Yep. Without them, no internet, no DVDs, no high definition TVs, no satellites to watch your shows, no cars, no airplanes, no houses, no iPods, no computers, no cell phones, no laptops, no software, no video games, no medicine, no closed captioning, and so on and so forth. Those who deride smart people don't realize how they actually help them make their lives easier and enjoyable. In fact, they're the dumb ones.
 
There are several reason, without Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, we won't have awesome computer to use.
 
Ah yes, the cult of Anti-Intellectualism. :roll: Making smart people's lives miserable since who knows when.
 
A lot of people don't like smart people because they bring questions into the public forum that others don't feel like answering or having to think about.
 
hhhmmmmm...... I know what you're talking about but there's not much of that around here. The "intelligence" is actually a fad around here. I guess YMMV
 
Jiro said:
hhhmmmmm...... I know what you're talking about but there's not much of that around here. The "intelligence" is actually a fad around here. I guess YMMV
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Case in point: the debacle that is the 'white privilege' thread. Oy.:roll:
 
I don't think that society understands really smart people. Smart people have a qualitative difference, and it shows in their interests. I have "nerdy" interests. I don't follow sports. I don't keep up with television or movies. There is often a lack of common interests. It's hard to relate to someone with completely different interests.
 
sallylou said:
I don't think that society understands really smart people. Smart people have a qualitative difference, and it shows in their interests. I have "nerdy" interests. I don't follow sports. I don't keep up with television or movies. There is often a lack of common interests. It's hard to relate to someone with completely different interests.
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nor do I. It shows in some of my posts and IMs. To give you an idea how much I know about sports, I thought O.J. Simpson was a basket ball player before his trial.
 
LOL! You're even more clueless about sports than I am. I recognize sports stars and I often know what they play. Most often I can't name them unless they are really famous and local.
 
sallylou said:
LOL! You're even more clueless about sports than I am. I recognize sports stars and I often know what they play. Most often I can't name them unless they are really famous and local.
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same. I can never remember most of famous celebrities' names. sad fact is - i know lot of names of "famous" or big-shot corporation guys, politicians, and scientists. :dunno:
 
I am a nerd, obviously. :lol: Yeah, I get made fun of, but they have issues, so I'm not too worried about it.
 
sallylou said:
I don't think that society understands really smart people. Smart people have a qualitative difference, and it shows in their interests. I have "nerdy" interests. I don't follow sports. I don't keep up with television or movies. There is often a lack of common interests. It's hard to relate to someone with completely different interests.
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I will have to agree with that statement completely.
 
yizuman said:
That sounds pretty familiar :roll:

Yiz
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And your point would be? That you don't like answering the hard questions that force honesty and insight?

Or are you just making an attempt at demonstrating the pettiness we are discussing and trying to get beyond?
 
Heh. Someone said that I was stupid because I didn't see what the big deal about Michael Jackson death was all about.
 
Seems that there's a case of "smart envy" from society, stuff people think up end up on paper and leaving people thinking, "crap, why didn't I think of that??"

Of course, some smart people do think up ideas, but do not have the financial means to support the idea. So instead, they trademark the idea and let it get buried in red tape.

Then they wait for someone else to come up with the same idea that do have the financial means to follow through. Then wait a few to several years for the guy to get rich from the idea and then slap a lawsuit with a trademark infringement.

If they win the case, they can then rake in all the hard work that the guy had made over the years.

Sounds petty, I know. It has happened to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and others like them. Especially when a person sees potentials from a software and come up with possibilities that could be created, therefore trademark it before these software giants come up with it and reap in the money from lawsuits. A pretty cheap way to make alot of money from the hard work of others.

Don't sound fair, doesn't it? Smart people aren't the only ones get hit up with a lawsuit, it has happened to celebs too, like Michael Jackson for one. (a case of rich envy as well)

Smart people can do great successes, but can also end up being a victim as well.

Yiz
 
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