[ck2]

Is "geek" too cool of a word now that they have to reach for the calculated more insulting "nerd"?

(my apologies to proud nerds - but my point is that's not how they were using it)

So if people who know what they are doing with computers are the equal of geeks, do politicians think they are the dumb jocks in this high school infantile throwdown?

[cpeterso]

These politicians used the insult "nerd" because they are trying to paint SOPA protesters in a negative light and to distance themselves from responsibility for the legislation's ill effects. ("How should I have known that would happen after we passed SOPA? I'm not a nerd!")

[ck2]

Actually they used to have a department that informed them of all these things in a non-partisan basis. But they shut them down.

http://www.princeton.edu/~ota/

I'd like to think this problem will be solved when any of them over 60 now will eventually die off but unfortunately they also awarded themselves gold plated heath care.

Ignorance knows no term limits and is somehow rewarded instead.

ETA: added this if anyone wants to discuss OTA further: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3488826

[pgeorgi]

Given the right position ignorance is pure gold (eg. delivered as cheques by lobbyists), no matter if "over 60" or not.

We have a couple of 30-somethings in German government, they "don't get it" (and/or don't want to) either.

So I'd advise against only relying on the "biological solution".

[Jgrubb]

I said this already above, but they used that word because that's how lobbyists from the MPAA framed the debate for them. All of these politicians are simply repeating the talking points that lobbyists feed them. Extend this to any given issue.

We, as a community, must get more involved in the political process.

[DTanner]

If you watch SC2 on GSL with Tasteless and Artosis, you'll see that even "nerd" is no longer pejorative. The greatest compliment they know is "nerd baller". They refer to themselves and the audience as "nerds" all the time, but in a totally friendly way. It's almost a badge of pride.

[jordan0day]

Do you really think the congresspeople saying "Well I don't know how it works!? I'm not a nerd!" We're really using it as a compliment, though? And as the Stewart clip points out, why couldn't they have just said "expert"? It's clear they were at best making backhanded compliments -- at worst they were intentionally framing it as "here's some weird arcane thing that only nerds care about, not normal people like us!"

"If you watch SC2 on GSL with Tasteless and Artosis" I haven't the slightest clue what that even means, you nerd.

[johnny22]

sounds like the same thing as saying "I'm not smart enough to understand this".

[itsameta4]

It's a point of pride, but only between other nerds. They're taking it back. It's also because "geek" got co-opted by people who aren't actually geeky, so we needed a more specific word for "the type of person who would watch the GSL".