KosmicGR
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kosmicgr.bsky.social
KosmicGR
@kosmicgr.bsky.social
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kosmicgr.bsky.social
Upon rewatching this great video I had an epiphany.
TL;DR: Nerd culture is greatly affected by lookism and is part of the reason why there's so much toxicity.
Here's my YouTube comment for more, sorry if the Alt text is broken, I was built for lurking not for posting.
I'm on my second rewatch and I just had an epiphany that has my mind racing. TL;DR: Lookism is why Gaming spaces are so toxic. Does everyone remember the whole "Gamers rise up" thing? That was an "ironic" acknowledgement among mostly center-right and far-right people who dabble in gaming that they belong in a "marginalized" group for their media preferences and hobbies, despite having "desirable" qualities (for whatever that's worth). Being a white autistic person in a small rural town in Greece, the only representation I saw of people like me (good at school, always snitching to their parents and teachers, despising sports and the people that like them, etc.) was in Western cartoons. Almost every cartoon had a "nerd" clique that had at least one member for each "bad" trait associated with the stereotype (braces, glasses, short and chubby or thin and frail, the works). And Every. Single. Time. Without fail. There was a single episode where the protagonist had to visit them for a favor and the nerds "forced" them to play board games, some vague parody of Dungeons and Dragons, or if it's video games, some tough-as-nails platformer or a JRPG. And the protagonist would be all overwhelmed because "math is hard" and stuff like that. Notice also how the parody games where always shown with primitive graphics? The stereotype of a video game is as a product, for kids. Kids don't care about photorealism, despite that having being the penultimate standard in the industry for decades. And that was the only time I'd ever see myself in a character and they were always forgotten as soon as they were introduced. Or they'd be the teacher's pet, so essentialy an antagonist. Notice how I didn't have to use the word Ugly up until now? Because, "no they're not ugly, they're nerdy, geeky, they have unconventional hobbies, they might not even be good at school but we'll assume that they are because they have to have something good going for them". You can't be Pretty with nerdy hobbies…
September 14, 2025 at 7:53 AM