Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT - Strips 4691-4695 (3rd to 7th January 2022)
badbum61:
--- Quote from: rockkevinrock on 05 Jan 2022, 18:22 ---From grades 10-12 I most often just sat in the art classrooms or music practice rooms during my lunch breaks. I realize now that it was the blossoming stages of my social anxiety and I consider myself extremely lucky that the teachers never forced me to go back to the cafeteria.
--- End quote ---
No cafeterias or tables at schools in Oz (at least, not the ones I went to), but yeah, joining the brass band gave me access to areas away from the jocks and (most of the) bullies. Hooray for music nerds!
Is it cold in here?:
From a second-degree connection, writing to a godchild:
--- Quote from: David Neiman ---> I want to share one simple easy rule. The key to enlightenment and
> existential bliss covering years 2-18.
>
> Nerds Rule.
>
> People are social creatures. Our brains are tuned to see everything that
> we do or say or own in relationship to what it says to other people about
> us. From the shoes you wear to the car you drive and the way you talk and
> the things you say, people search these actions for meaning, and find a
> way to assign them value in terms of competition and status. Our minds are
> exquisitely designed for this task, and so we live in a world of ladders &
> social hierarchies that permeate every aspect of lives. People that excel
> at this function enjoy tremendous advantages in life. Status, popularity,
> access. These are cool people – ones we are designed to envy and emulate.
>
> On the flip side of the spectrum there are nerds. People whose brains
> aren't designed to navigate these complicated social webs. They have
> difficulty figuring out what other people expect of them - what they
> should do, how they should look, what they should be - and so they are
> consigned to a lower echelon. Status, popularity, access, cool – they have
> admission to none of these.
>
> But being a nerd has distinct advantages. The inability to succeed at
> status seeking behavior liberates you from having to pursue it and defend
> it. Nerds learn to do what they like instead of doing the things that
> others expect of them. Freed from cliques and social sets, they choose
> their friends more organically based on affinities & shared interests.
> Outsider status lets them look at their world with a more critical eye.
> The modesty of their present circumstances teaches them to be patient &
> keep an eye on the future.
>
> In short, being a nerd helps you figure out who you are, what you want, &
> who you want to be with, largely freed from the constraints of the
> expectations of others. You gain self-knowledge, wisdom, perspective,
> delayed gratification, identification with the little guy. These are the
> constituent parts of decent people. It's what good friends, good husbands,
> good fathers are made of.
>
> So here's my life lesson for you. Winning is often a losing strategy, and
> the reverse holds true as well. Take pity on the New York Yankees and the
> King of the Prom. They've got destination sickness - nowhere to go but
> down. Status, once achieved, becomes an end in itself, & must be
> maintained. It's a lifetime spent on defense.
>
> So, when you're sorting through today's presents – throw out the Marc
> Jacobs sunglasses, keep the cello, then go out into the world & get your
> nerd on. And if you're not lucky enough to be born a nerd, go find some &
> let them to take you in. They'll show you how it's done.
>
> Nerds are nice that way.
--- End quote ---
Wombat:
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 05 Jan 2022, 19:28 ---From a second-degree connection, writing to a godchild:
--- End quote ---
Mixed about the longer message, but just wanted to share that I momentarily forgot about godparents and godchildren and all that, and thought this was going to be in connection to, like, a god who is a child. For a moment I thought I was in another week's thread and it was meant in connection to Yay, the closest character I could identify as a "god child."
Anyway.
Farideh:
I remember being 14. NEVER AGAIN. I enjoy being an adult way more than I ever 'enjoyed' being a teenager.
Re. IICIH's message to a godchild: I agree with most of it, except for throwing out the sunglasses. You can never have too many pairs of sunglasses.
Gyrre:
--- Quote from: BenRG on 04 Jan 2022, 23:03 ---I have no doubt that the teachers informally support this process and 'lose' any complaints about it. If certain kids are openly and systematically excluded and othered, it reduces the likelihood that they'll have to intervene when the socially-dominant kids decide to 'physically chastise' them for 'not knowing their place'.
Yes, I was at the bottom of the pile, socially, at school myself. Why do you ask?
--- End quote ---
The physical stuff stopped for me pretty quickly after a failed locker stuffing attempt. Having your target push the door open against two aggressors tends to make individuals rethink the physical aspect of things no matter how short you are. Still doesn't stop the verbal abuse though.
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