Open Thread, January 11-17, 2016

username2

If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

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If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

Notes for future OT posters:

1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.

2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one. (Immediately before; refresh the list-of-threads page before posting.)

3. Open Threads should be posted in Discussion, and not Main.

4. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.

A person coming from "social culture" to "nerd culture" may interpret everything as a part of some devious status game.

The social person is right here. Remember 'X is not about Y'?. The difference is that your 'social culture' person is in fact low-to-average status on the relevant hierarchy. Something that's just "harmless social banter" to people who are confident in their social position can easily become a 'status attack', or a 'microaggression' from the POV of someone who happens to be more vulnerable. This is not limited to information-exchange at all, it's a ubiquitous social phenomenon. And this dynamic makes engaging in such status games a useful signal of confidence, so they're quite likely to persist.

I think that one very important difference between status games and things that might remind people of status game is how long they are expected to stay in people's memory.

For example, I play pub quizzes and often I am the person who is responsible for the answer sheet. Due to strict time limits, discussion must be as quick as possible, therefore in many situations I (or another person who is responsible for the answer sheet) have to reject an idea a person has came up with based on vague heuristic arguments and usually there is no time for long and elabo... (read more)

2Lumifer10y

You're confusing two points of view. Let's say social Sally is talking to nerdy Nigel. From the point of view of Sally, there are a lot of microaggressions, and status attacks, and insensitivity, etc. But that is not because Nigel is cunningly conducting a "devious status game", Nigel doesn't care about status (including Sally's) and all he wants to do is talk about his nerdy stuff. Nigel is not playing a let's-kick-Sally-around game, Sally is misperceiving the situation.