Phil's Vidya Soapbox #1
Channel: Nerds With Wings
Date: 2014-08-10

Most of us who were nerdy kids growing up had some experience with being bullied. We didn't particularly enjoy it. Why is it, then, that after the Internet precipitated a cultural upheaval that placed nerds squarely in the driver's seat of pop culture, so many of us have become bullies ourselves? A social-media humorist tweets a photo (jokingly) calling Neil DeGrasse Tyson a nerd and is absolutely excoriated for it. Sheldon Cooper routinely berates anyone whose knowledge of the Trek is less extensive than his own. Any MMO with a player-versus-player component will have at least some portion of the playerbase that prides itself on demoralizing and destroying "casuals". And heaven help you if you even sound like you're challenging scientific consensus on any political issue. Where did this attitude come from? While you're here, listen to the newest episode of our podcast at http://is.gd/fDUJOn!

http://is.gd/DqJ5fG - check us out on SoundCloud!
http://is.gd/6LUzdT - the story that spawned this particular video