The Shallow Hatefulness of People

If there's one thing I hate in this world (ok, I hate many things), it's stupid and shallow people. Now, it's one thing for someone to make a mistake, but I just have a pathological dislike for people who show themselves to be my intellectual socio-cultural inferior or (University of Miami fans). l think some of this comes from my experiences in high school.  I have some fond memories of high school, but I also have memories of shallow and superficial idiots who could not get past their own over inflated egos and bitchy labeling of society. I admit, I'm a geek. But hey, that should be okay. However, some of the high school nonsense extended into my adult years, where dating occasionally was a minefield of girls who couldn't get past their stupid mind games. I'm glad I found a girl who didn't play those games (and herself was kinda geeky), and we're happily married. 

            What brings this up is a nasty internet dustup that I read today.  Alyssa Bereznak,  a writer for Gizmodo went on two dates with a guy (Jon Finkel) she met through OkCupid, and proceeded to write an article about it afterwards. She wrote how not only did she dump him, but it was horrible that she was going out with someone who was a "Magic: The Gathering World Champion".  Yes, seriously. She stopped seeing him because he was......a nerd. And she was upset that he didn't mention that in his OKCupid profile (really? WTF?) Btw, her original (unit-edited) version is actually worse.

(More after the jump) 

             Yes, she seriously went out of her way to spent her article whining about her dislikes of nerds, and made straw man arguments about how he should have "mentioned in his OkCupid profile that he's a Magic champion", and that she basically went on a 2nd date just to get digs in against him and write about it in an article that- by name- bashed him because of his hobbies. The guy she went out with and seems to, all in all, be a pretty good guy, who is a successful hedge fund manager. Doesn't matter. He's "Jon motherfucking Finkel", which, in her language, means a fucking nerdbot to be made fun of.

            As a result, Bereznak has been called out by the international blogosphere as a bitchy, shallow, and superficial person who trolled a good guy (he's worth $3 million, btw) purely out of spite and hate.. It's one thing if they didn't click on a personality level, but she never mentions his personality. She felt the need to rip him to shreds over geekiness in a very public fashion. It's shallow, bitchy, and borderline sociopathic. I don't feel sorry for her. I'm glad that Mr. Finkel has shown class and dignity in his responses- and that many have come to his defense. I agree with pretty much everything that's been said about her- and I hope she suffers the consequences of her actions

            There are two problems with this article. The first is that the writer knowingly went into a date with someone for the pure purpose of writing a trolling article for Gizmodo. "Nerd-Baiting" has become something of a infamous practice at Gizmodo, and this fits the bill. But what's really bad about it is that she did not disclose her background (or activities) to Mr. Finkel, and then proceeded to write articles that show malicious intent against him. The ethical and legal issues involved in this issue are going to reverberate much more than the actual article. I hope Gizmodo has good lawyers- or are prepared for the mass exodus of advertising dollars. This isn't how you establish market space, brand names, or good journalism. 

            The second problem is the one I grew up with. I play Magic. I practically worship Lord of the Rings. I've got anime models in my office.You might call it nice guy syndrome (I call it "I'm a cynic; you're an asshole") where I've been burned by superficialness. Some still think it's okay for people to remain superficial and hate on nerds and geeks purely because they are geeks and nerds. Oh, and it's just so much FUN to mess with them. I've been on the receiving end of that kind of catty mind games from many girls, and that's why I think the anger at Bereznak has hit home for many guys and girls. They've seen this kind of The Hills/ Gossip Girl show too often happen to them in real life. It's sad that someone at Gizmodo thought this was a good idea to try to ruin a good guy because, hey, he's just a fucking nerdbot. Who cares, y'know?  They're just nerds (btw, that sounds an awful lot like "they're just Jews"). To be fair, I've also dated many good girls, quite a few who I'm still friends with. And I married a great woman, and have many great friends. So, I've got the life Bereznak wants, but will never get. I guess karma is the real bitch goddess. Not Gizmodo writers.