Thursday, February 01, 2018 3:26:41 PM
A liberal nerd 'problem'
What in the world? Pieces of global opinion
1 August 2014
Neil deGrasse Tyson: nerd alert!
As presenter of the popular science programme Cosmos and director of the Hayden Planetarium, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has become the leading voice of science and reason for many Americans. But not all.
"He is the fetish and totem of the extraordinarily puffed-up 'nerd' culture that has of late started to bloom across the United States," writes .. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/384081/smarter-thou-charles-c-w-cooke .. Charles CW Cooke for the National Review. "'Nerd' has become a calling a card - a means of conveying membership of one group and denying affiliation with another."
For Cooke the idea of the "nerd" no longer represents World of Warcraft and Star Trek. Instead the term has been co-opted by liberal Americans as a kind of political strategy:
"One part insecure hipsterism, one part unwarranted condescension, the two defining characteristics of self-professed nerds are (a) the belief that one can discover all of the secrets of human experience through differential equations and (b) the unlovely tendency to presume themselves to be smarter than everybody else in the world."
But the political left's embrace of "nerdom" is "little more than a ruse," he continues. "They have the patois but not the passion; the clothes but not the style; the posture but not the imprimatur."
Cooke's portrayal of these supposed fake, liberal nerds prompted a sharp response from the left.
"It's easy to see why, despite their supposed enthusiasm for excellence, conservative pundits would offer up liberal scientists, journalists and artists as hate objects for their base," writes .. http://www.salon.com/2014/07/31/why_they_really_hate_neil_degrasse_tyson_inside_the_rights_anti_intellectual_paranoia_partner/ .. Amanda Marcotte for Salon.
"This is a time of economic instability and ordinary people are seeing their fortunes declining," she adds. "It's easy to turn that anxiety into rage at people conservative audiences think have easy, charmed lives as coastal elites."
Other commentators that the view that perhaps it's not about economic instability as it is a fear of educated voters.
"The danger Tyson brings to the political structure, as he gains an increasingly large foothold in the popular culture, is the threat of an informed populace," writes .. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-neil-degrasse-tyson-cosmos-20140729-story.html .. Matthew Fleischer for the Los Angeles Times.
"That may not sound radical, but the promise of a large, nerdy, young voting block that subscribes to Tyson's sentiment is a threat to the political status quo - certainly Republicans, but Democrats as well."
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-28614816
Yep, Insecurity breeds fear, and the use of fear as a political policy.
What in the world? Pieces of global opinion
1 August 2014
Neil deGrasse Tyson: nerd alert!
As presenter of the popular science programme Cosmos and director of the Hayden Planetarium, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has become the leading voice of science and reason for many Americans. But not all.
"He is the fetish and totem of the extraordinarily puffed-up 'nerd' culture that has of late started to bloom across the United States," writes .. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/384081/smarter-thou-charles-c-w-cooke .. Charles CW Cooke for the National Review. "'Nerd' has become a calling a card - a means of conveying membership of one group and denying affiliation with another."
For Cooke the idea of the "nerd" no longer represents World of Warcraft and Star Trek. Instead the term has been co-opted by liberal Americans as a kind of political strategy:
"One part insecure hipsterism, one part unwarranted condescension, the two defining characteristics of self-professed nerds are (a) the belief that one can discover all of the secrets of human experience through differential equations and (b) the unlovely tendency to presume themselves to be smarter than everybody else in the world."
But the political left's embrace of "nerdom" is "little more than a ruse," he continues. "They have the patois but not the passion; the clothes but not the style; the posture but not the imprimatur."
Cooke's portrayal of these supposed fake, liberal nerds prompted a sharp response from the left.
"It's easy to see why, despite their supposed enthusiasm for excellence, conservative pundits would offer up liberal scientists, journalists and artists as hate objects for their base," writes .. http://www.salon.com/2014/07/31/why_they_really_hate_neil_degrasse_tyson_inside_the_rights_anti_intellectual_paranoia_partner/ .. Amanda Marcotte for Salon.
"This is a time of economic instability and ordinary people are seeing their fortunes declining," she adds. "It's easy to turn that anxiety into rage at people conservative audiences think have easy, charmed lives as coastal elites."
Other commentators that the view that perhaps it's not about economic instability as it is a fear of educated voters.
"The danger Tyson brings to the political structure, as he gains an increasingly large foothold in the popular culture, is the threat of an informed populace," writes .. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-neil-degrasse-tyson-cosmos-20140729-story.html .. Matthew Fleischer for the Los Angeles Times.
"That may not sound radical, but the promise of a large, nerdy, young voting block that subscribes to Tyson's sentiment is a threat to the political status quo - certainly Republicans, but Democrats as well."
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-28614816
Yep, Insecurity breeds fear, and the use of fear as a political policy.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
Join the InvestorsHub Community
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
