Why is a Nerd generally a negative thing in our society?

[Morgan]

This is kind of a branch off of John's February 17th video.
Why is having passion for knowledge looked down upon? In America, everyone HAS to be passionate and STRIVE FOR SUCCESS, which is definitely what nerds do, and yet the negative attitude continues. Why do you think this is?

[Morgan]

amen

[Deltadasher]

It's not really a negative thing in my school. All the 'nerds' are actually the most popular people to know, and they're known by the whole school. It's weird, but it's awesome at the same time.

It's the unfortuante geeks that tend to be put down though. There's some kind of way to distinguish between them, but I've forgotten how. It was weird, but I'd prefer to be a nerd. Hooray!

Though looking back over this post, I'm beginning to think I live in some kind of alternate reality where sheep rule and dragons exist! Even better!

[Melanie]

That's the best kind of alternate reality, though.

The nerds are the most popular at my school, too.

Everybody knows them.

[Faith aka Charles Xavier]

I think that it is because in present day normal society being smart is not the best thing that you can be. We the nerds think that being smart is important, because we are smart enough to know that. The people looking down on us because they think that other things are way more important then being smart, like being attractive.

I just relized that when I go to other forums they are filled with bad grammar and chatspeak, and it really annoys me! I love it here because there is not all that much of that crap!

[Kayla]

Its generally a bad thing because of how our pop culture portrays it. In lots of movies the main plot is turning the shy awkward kid into Mr/Miss popularity. As if thats what we all want to be.

BUT it also depends on what school you go to and the area. I live near L.A. and because of this I think people are much more open to the nerd stereotype. Plus its very fashionable right now to have those glasses. I mean some of the most popular kids at my school are also very intellectual.

[Tom]

For this, I will have to quote the movie "School for Scoundrels":

"Roger, there are two kinds of people in this world -- those who run shit, like me, and those who eat shit, like you."

The point of Dr. P. saying this to Roger is to exaggerate the point that if you want to run shit (or be successful) you need to get ahead and strive for success, like you said. But, if you isolate yourself from most of the people around you, it'll end up being for nothing. You need connections. Being a "nerd", we generally do not have many friends or connections, but thanks to Hank and John, we have the Ning here, so this should bring some sort of revolution to the word "nerd".
Who knows, maybe someday "nerd" might be a compliment, meaning "the smartest, most awesome person ever".
Although I think there's already a word for that: NERDFIGHTER.

[Melanie]

Makes sense... makes sense...

[Scarykidd182]

The Nerd thing is kinda in right now. It's becoming less of a negative thing to be a geek. but I generally don't know why being a nerd is a bad thing, probably because the stereotypical nerd is not the pretty, sexually desirable type of person. Nerds are also stereotypically socially awkward. Granted none of these things are true for most nerds.

DFTBA,

Adam aka Scarykidd182

[Eleanor Rigby]

I'm socially awkward!!! =D

[John Moore]

I think one of the reasons for this is television...
A bunch people nowadays just watch TV, they get lazy and have no motivation to work or learn, thus becoming less intelligent.
Then, you get the bunch of people who are intelligent and haven't let television take over their life - the Nerds. As you said, The Nerds strive for success which means they get better jobs, lead a more fulfilling life consequently making the lazy TV watchers jealous.
They get jealous and start despising the nerds, who are then looked down upon.
It's a shame that the majority of people look down on Nerds.

There are other reasons for this i think, but I suppose for me, those are more personal reasons.

[Eleanor Rigby]

This reminds me of a John Lennon lyric, from Working Class Hero: "They hate you if you're clever and they dispise a fool"

It sucks. I think that all the people who say that being a nerd is bad are just jealous. Maybe I'm just trying to console myself, but... *sigh*

[QuantumTuba]

It's because our focus upon nerdy subjects means we spend less time focused upon things of interest to the majority of people, or the things that generally make one popular. Furthermore, there is a feeling that intellectuals are elitists who are removed from the concerns of "real America."