<p>For example, being a “nerd” is considered a negative thing by many people. Why?</p>
<p>Personally, I think this encourages people to hide their intelligence out of fear of being mocked. It gives intelligence a bad image. Why is being a “nerd” bad? As far as I know, it simply means you’re smart. Which should have a positive connotation. You shouldn’t want to hide this fact. I know people from my school who purposely don’t go for good grades because they don’t want to labelled as a “nerd.” I just don’t understand this.</p>
<p>I think it’s less about being smart and more about being arrogant/elitist. I get that “holier-than-thou” vibe from many of the kids who’re considered “intelligent” in my school, and nobody wants to be around someone who clearly thinks that they’re better than you. Intimidation and/or jealousy can also factor into play.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s just my school, but if you don’t brag about your grades and/or “intellect”, nobody’s going to look down on you for being smart. On the contrary, a few of my friends look up to me and are proud of me for doing well in school, despite the fact that they themselves are failing a class (or more).</p>
<p>You have to consider who is looking down upon others. Usually, it’s the insecure type that looks down, that pokes fun, that makes others feel bad. Trust me, I’ve experienced all kinds of taunting by the insecure types. When grades roll around, I see why they’re making fun of me - their grades suck - and deep inside, they want that to change. </p>
<p>Same with body form. Well, same with anything, really. Some people will poke fun at out from the veil of anonymity that the Internet gives you. Pathetic, really, to be shutting anyone down on the Internet. It’s the hallmark of a coward to tell the troops to advance while you yourself are at the rear of the ranks. But that’s just what it’s like on the Internet - you yourself are sheltered while your meaningless words advance.</p>
<p>It’s funny. I always have heard of this hatred towards nerds but never have experienced it. My schools is in an area that would be considered bad, and smart people are pretty revered. That last time I was called a nerd in a bad way was 4th grade (and I immaturely, yet satisfyingly beat the guy up over it.) </p>
<p>But I think it’s not intelligence that’s ridiculed, but the qualities that often come with it. I think almost ever “smart” person (and therefore every CCer) has at least some eccentric quality that seperates them from the average population. Me for example:I’m pretty well liked, because I can make 95% of the people laugh, and the other 5% annoyed. Compared to most of my “smart” friends, I feel like I get along much better with the general population. However my “eccentric quality” that seperates me is my awkward body language. People remark about it but It’s not my defining quality.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, social nerds like myself can have conversation with unintelligent people, but after a while it gets boring, because the fact of the matter is you’re different than them, and think differently. And it feels the same on their end. Now depending on the situation, the answer to your question is either long answer above, or the short answer- JEALOUSY. Sometimes people are (yes the nickelodeon TV shows told the truth) jealous of smart people. To your other question, yeah I think I do dumb down sometimes. But really dont worry about it. Be proud of your nerdyness! </p>
<p>Sorry this is so long but this topic is interesting to me haha</p>
<p>In my school it generally isn’t looked down upon. </p>
<p>When my teacher’s tells the rest of the class what I got on the test (because I did so well) , some kid will always jokingly saw “nerd”, then I respond by saying, “Excuse me, but I believe the term you are looking for is intellectual badass”. That usually gets a chuckle out of the class.</p>
<p>Anyway, as long as you aren’t a condescending ****** who thinks you’re better than everyone else, no one looks down upon you for being a “nerd” in my school. </p>
<p>I also try not to get angry over a score I got on a test (If I get anywhere in the 80s I get pretty angry). I don’t express the anger, I bite my tongue because I know there are people who got much worse scores than me. If I went around saying “I only got a 90!” Then I would be looked down upon. </p>
<p>As long as you aren’t an *******, you aren’t looked down upon for being smart and that’s pretty much all there is to it.</p>
<p>Elementary and middle school kids are vicious and stupid. By the time their peers have caught up conversationally, kids who started out on higher footing have gotten used to the alienation and the mental high ground. So they press their advantage, sometimes accidentally, and end up being aggressively, obsessively intelligent. Other people find this obnoxious, and it continues. I never had that problem — at least not in high school — as it has been my policy to forgive the past behavior of people who hadn’t yet developed mentally. Other people cling to closely to their intelligence, which they feel is the single trait that they have over others, and forget that’s not the game to play.</p>
<p>Interesting replies, I’ve been sick and thinking about random stuff while watching TV reruns.</p>
<p>I thought about the contrast between people in some of my classes this past year. In my math class (advanced algebra II), I loved the people, for the most part they were quite driven by education. Then I saw a huge difference in my english class (I was in honors but the honors program for english at my school is odd, there’s just a weekly seminar for honors students). Kids there would pretty much look down on the “nerds” of the class (people who consistently got high grades, studied, etc). I just ignored them; I’d rather be called a nerd than earn the grades they were getting.</p>
<p>no it means more than that. but just being smart it looked down on for justifiable reasons i think. the people with intelligence have it way easier. they get to succeed in school, get positive attention from the teachers, be adored, and why is that? why them and not you? it’s unfair! of course you’re going to resent the kids that have it easier than you, whether it’s because their family is wealthy or because they’re pretty or smart.</p>
<p>and where and when it is socially acceptable to express that resentment you will seize the opportunity.</p>
<p>My opinion may be biased, but I believe it’s virtually always because of insecurity or jealousy. Ever since I began high school, some people began to get on my case about the fact that my grades were high. They wouldn’t say that I was “smart,” but instead that I “spent all day studying, was a-social, scrawny.” Especially the scrawny part. I go to a very sports-oriented school, where nearly everyone plays some sport, whereas I have yet to play a single one, not because I didn’t want to, but because my parents wouldn’t take the time to drive me to practices. As high school moved on, and people started realizing the importance of grades, the disdain some people had more me increased. They would call me arrogant etc. for making the most innocuous remarks about my grades. I got tired of the “skinny-as-a-twig, out-of-shape” remarks, so I began to lift around 9 months go and gained a heap of muscle mass. Now i’m just supposedly super arrogant about how I “luckily” got good grades in school and a solid physique… haters be jealous.</p>
<p>The committee members that decided on the name for the prestigious award you nearly won. They also use the word “pontificate” on a regular basis.</p>