Ha, yeah I bet those labels were coined by bullies (isn't there a TV show now titled Popular?) My football experience gave me a steady diet of sadistic Bobby Knight-type coaches which translated into a little sympathy for the picked-on and bullied. And my friends consider me a nerd - rightly so - b/c my apartment is overflowing with books and b/c of my breezy dismissals of their political theorizing. So there!
Kendall:
>I think this is largely a stereotype; after all, what's more
>condescending? Microsoft's Talking Paperclip, and the attitude that
>ordinary people are too stupid to really understand anything about
>their computers; or giving away your code to the world at
>large to read, study, and learn from, and then assembling that code
>into operating systems that are challenging but give users a
>tremendous amount of power.
The Talking Paperclip is the ultimate in condescension.
There's some truth in the stereotype, though, but of course I've met some perfectly friendly and charming propellerheads and no one is more condescending than the corporate elite (see Larry Summers). (and I find the hackers' outlaw culture rather seductive (see The Matrix)) Where can one find the essay you're referring to?
Peter