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this "us against them" mentality seems to really be picking up steam these days. it doesn't make sense to me. for every "successful" computer geek there is a su

this "us against them" mentality seems to really be picking up steam these days. it doesn't make sense to me. for every "successful" computer geek there is a successful banker, lawyer, politician or any other traditionally mainstream-sexy profession. CEOs tend to be extremely charismatic...not exactly a trait associated with "revenge of the nerds." this fixation on popularity seems to exist as strongly in the tech world as it did in my high school. I mean, christ, our two biggest web services right now (fb & tw) are entirely, "look at me! pay attention to me!"

Locke1689 15y ago
Actually, most of the people in those positions tend to be well educated and studious. This tends to not be popular in high school.
- localhost3000 15y ago
  you haven't spent much time with wall street types, have you? It's a lot of alpha-male, machismo, 'let's drink beers and tell dirty jokes' - which, in my experience, is pretty much in line with being "cool" as an adolescent. Your implication that being well-educated and popular are mutually exclusive is just plain false, at least where I grew up...
  - Locke1689 15y ago
    I have spent a lot of time with them, actually, given that Northwestern's most popular major is economics. I'm also in a frat and enjoy drinking beer and telling dirty jokes with many of my finance-oriented brothers. Of course, when the rubber meets the road and they have a statistics test the next day, they're not out partying, they're studying all night with a big cup of coffee. I would say that this kind of popularity is less common in high school, though. Simply the fact that you care about school and study is likely to put you into a separate group. College, however, is a different story.
j_baker 15y ago
I think the "us against them" mentality has always had steam, and will always have steam. Romans against Christians, Christians against Muslims, the US against Britain, the North against the South, democracy against communism... I could go on and on...
- WalterBright 15y ago
  CroMagnons vs Neanderthals ... http://www.themandus.org/ http://www.themandus.org/

Locke1689 15y ago

Actually, most of the people in those positions tend to be well educated and studious. This tends to not be popular in high school.

localhost3000 15y ago
you haven't spent much time with wall street types, have you? It's a lot of alpha-male, machismo, 'let's drink beers and tell dirty jokes' - which, in my experience, is pretty much in line with being "cool" as an adolescent. Your implication that being well-educated and popular are mutually exclusive is just plain false, at least where I grew up...
- Locke1689 15y ago
  I have spent a lot of time with them, actually, given that Northwestern's most popular major is economics. I'm also in a frat and enjoy drinking beer and telling dirty jokes with many of my finance-oriented brothers. Of course, when the rubber meets the road and they have a statistics test the next day, they're not out partying, they're studying all night with a big cup of coffee. I would say that this kind of popularity is less common in high school, though. Simply the fact that you care about school and study is likely to put you into a separate group. College, however, is a different story.

j_baker 15y ago

I think the "us against them" mentality has always had steam, and will always have steam. Romans against Christians, Christians against Muslims, the US against Britain, the North against the South, democracy against communism... I could go on and on...

WalterBright 15y ago
CroMagnons vs Neanderthals ... http://www.themandus.org/ http://www.themandus.org/