tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post4161354202659111154..comments2024-03-17T11:05:22.464+00:00Comments on The Life And Opinions of Andrew Rilstone: Transports of DelightUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-17781923082366510272010-06-11T09:44:18.240+01:002010-06-11T09:44:18.240+01:00Because it's rude not to?
It also tends to ma...Because it's rude not to?<br /><br />It also tends to make life that much harder for the slightly more socially adept people who share their enthusiasms. They're condemned by association.<br /><br />(The fact that social incompetence sometimes shades into things like sexual assault is another problem again, but mercifully a fairly rare one.)Phil Mastershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-85531501915257900252010-06-10T19:53:54.260+01:002010-06-10T19:53:54.260+01:00Andrew:
Welcome back! (I say as someone vaguely ...Andrew:<br /><br />Welcome back! (I say as someone vaguely interested in the English folk music scene and utterly incapable of affording the plane ticket to actually see them in person.)<br /><br />Phil:<br /><br />"Willful social incompetence and narrow-minded exclusive snobbery are silly at best, downright dangerous at worst."<br /><br />Narrow-minded exclusive snobbery...yes, when you really start seeing non-Who fans as an inferior form of humanity worthy of derision. But as to a low-level willful social incompetence, well, among the nerds I know at least there seems to be the same division of boorish idiots and friendly hosts as in culture at large. <br /><br />The central fact is just that they found a space to belong, to enthuse, and to be a certain strange invented form of themselves that is rather exhilarating in its divergence from standard culture. And if they're happy, productive (albeit odd) members of society...why should they increase their outside-the-group social competence?Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-15341666707258375762010-06-09T12:40:28.109+01:002010-06-09T12:40:28.109+01:00Umm, yeah. I fully agree that geeks should have th...Umm, yeah. I fully agree that geeks should have the honesty not to criticise other geeks for the stuff to which they themselves are prone. It should be very hard to pretend that our own areas of obsession are somehow more important or somehow should be more cool than anyone else's. And geekery often provides the foundation for serious scholarship in a field, especially one where the serious scholarship is spread a bit thin.<br /><br />Though - while I know zilch about buses - I can't see that there's anything too strange about <i>that</i> area of geekery. Buses are big machines, after all, and big machines are almost always cool. Plus I can see an interesting social history aspect to bus studies.<br /><br />But - I reserve the right to criticise any and all geeks (including the ones who share my own interests) for the general sins of geekery. Willful social incompetence and narrow-minded exclusive snobbery are silly at best, downright dangerous at worst. The fact that they occur among people close to me, socially, doesn't excuse them among people with slightly different interests. I might manage a bit more understanding because of the similarity, but understanding is not the same as justification.<br /><br />And yep, that all includes footie fans, who are indeed just another bunch of geeks, with more lager and more social self-validation than most.Phil Mastershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-66527195595341632812010-06-09T07:54:17.179+01:002010-06-09T07:54:17.179+01:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.俊茹https://www.blogger.com/profile/14990870322169340859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-30681959484521999752010-06-08T18:03:55.593+01:002010-06-08T18:03:55.593+01:00or a group from Lewes dressed as Vikings.
You hav...<i>or a group from Lewes dressed as Vikings.</i><br /><br />You have not lived in Sussex in a long time if you consider groups from Lewes dressed as Vikings to be worthy of comment!Gavin Burrowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16347163260510316959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-80312583717220231512010-06-08T12:40:39.073+01:002010-06-08T12:40:39.073+01:00... and that is why I will be going to Oxonmoot th...... and that is why I will be going to <a href="http://www.tolkiensociety.org/oxon/" rel="nofollow">Oxonmoot</a> this year. Is anyone else going?Mike Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039663158335543317noreply@blogger.com