Posted on 12/18/2019 7:49:20 AM PST by dayglored
'Divisive and humiliating' terms are bad as the N-word, uni lecturer argues
Labeling super-smart people with terms like nerd, geek, or boffin is hate speech, and should be punishable as such, argues lecturer and Harley-Street psychotherapist Dr Sonja Falck.
Likewise wonk, smarty-pants, and know-it-all: these terms are "divisive and humiliating," and the “last taboo,” the University of East London egghead said this week while promoting her new book about brainiacs. Such “anti-IQ” words set society's Einsteins apart, she claimed, with the result that geeks end up “feeling like they’re a misfit and don’t belong.”
Calling someone a swot, whizkid, brainbox, smart-arse, or dweeb may seem “harmless banter,” but it is equivalent to hate speech, she reckons, and should be recognized as such in British law – with punishments including fines and imprisonment. “It is only with the benefit of hindsight and academic research that we realise how wrong we were,” she added.
That academic research includes her new book titled Extreme Intelligence, for which she interviewed 20 nerds for 90 minutes about when they realized they were so very clever.
She then embarked on a “contextual analysis of literature” and decided that calling someone a boffin was equivalent to the worst racial slurs. "The N-word was common parlance in the UK until at least the 1960s,” she said during her book launch, before noting that "other insulting slurs about age, disability, religion and gender identity remained in widespread use until relatively recently.”
Dr Falck does not have a chip on her shoulder, despite the fact that the whole idea behind the book stemmed from the fact that as a child she was offered a place at a school for gifted children but her mother turned it down because she feared it would result in her becoming socially difficult.
In the book she focuses on psychosocial questions surrounding those with extremely high intelligence, and bases her arguments on depictions of genius in the media and fictional works as well as the 20 people she spoke to. She comes to the conclusion that these super-geeks all had formative experiences of being set apart from others, partly because of how they behaved, and partly because of how people responded to their behavior.
Which all feels a little self-selecting. Of the 20 people Dr Falck spoke to, 16 of them were members of Mensa, a social club that adopted the famous IQ test in an effort to form a society of intelligent people. These days that elitist British mindset is airbrushed and Mensa’s goal is said to be “to create a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions.”
In the UK if you pay £24.95 for the IQ test and score over 132, you can then pay £59.95 a year to receive a newsletter and attend events with other people who have also paid up to be in a room with people who scored highly on the same intelligence test.
Dr Falck has identified a specific subset of intelligent people who have difficulty fitting in socially and then noted that people use specific terms to refer to them; terms that they don’t like because it highlights the fact that they are socially awkward.
At what point does identifying any specific group and giving that group a name or names move from useful, everyday categorization and extend into victimization or prejudicial behavior? It’s when the names are used in a purposefully derogatory way. And that depends on both those being called the names, and broader society, accepting them as purely negative, she argues.
Do all the words identified by Falck fit into that category? Not where we sit they don’t: nerd, geek, and boffin are terms of praise at El Reg.
But for those offended by that argument, we would refer you to the words of celebrated moron Stephen Hawking who, when asked what his IQ score was, responded: “I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers.” ®
Hacks, guttersnipes, tabloid scum, aggro loner twats. We've heard it all. And as we dish out a fair amount of criticism and snark, we should be able to take it in return in spades.
You can't go through life worrying about what people call you. Someone wants to point out you're smarter than the average bear? Brilliant, thanks for the reminder: we forgot all about that while juggling breakfast, differential equations, and rewriting Microsoft Windows this morning.
This isn't 1987 any more. If you haven't been keeping up with current affairs, geeks and nerds effectively run the world now. It's good to be a swot.
As a bunch of cynical geeks ourselves, we use boffin as a term of endearment for any accomplished scientist, engineer, mathematician, or the like. Indeed, we get furious complaints from esteemed nerds we neglect to call boffins.
But, we must stress: you have to earn that badge of respect through true boffinry.
Otherwise, you're just an egghead.
I don’t think I ever have heard “boffin” used derogatorily. It is mostly a complimentary complementary term, even if only begrudgingly so.
Agreed. I've always considered it a term of (possibly grudging) respect.
I'm going to guess "no", but you should probably check with her to make sure.
“Boffin is a British slang term for a scientist, engineer, or other person engaged in technical or scientific research and development. A “boffin” was generally viewed by the regular services as odd, quirky or peculiar, though quite bright and essential to helping in the war effort.”
Wikipedia is your FRiend!
I don’t go to Wikipedia. Too much bad information.
Anyway, why go to Wikipedia when I get quicker answers from my FReeper FRiends?
I have two boys 9 12/4 and seventh grade and I can tell you I’m very happy to see that they constantly are throwing around faggot ! and you’re gay ! all the time as an insult
Of course they know if they ever use those terms at school they be suspended for the rest of their lives
And of course if they ever let it slip around one of the moms around here are mostly liberal I just drive in and say “oh gay means happy!
Asshat. (am I allowed to say that?)
Is ‘snowflake busybody’ still allowed? — Ubernerd
Are you saying one of your boys is three? If so, he’s not completely simplified!
They still ban kids from the indoctrination center? Seems like it would be counterproductive.
Psychology nerds are little cheep cheep chicken guanos yearning to become eggheads!!
And, this is a circa 1980’s geek, boffin, NASA-certified rocket scientist saying that!
And the booksellers over at www.fatbrain.com. That’s fat-shaming and brain-shaming at the same time!!
Wrap all those offensive slurs into one and hurl it back at her...”Psychologist!”
Falck, you’re a dingbat.
I just found out at a recent conference that my Dad was a “boffin” -— a WW2 English slang word for the “odd” Americans, usually soldiers, who worked with all the electronics gizmos, and were winning the war because of them:
WW2 -— Jan 1941 to Nov 1945:
Served in the 38th Infantry Division as a radio operator using the SCR-511, SCR-536, SCR-284, SCR-300, SCR-211, and similar radios. Was also a field music instructor and had a brief stint as a Military Policeman. Became qualified with all infantry weapons and was intimately familiar with the internal workings of most of them.
Korea -— July 1950 to August 1952:
As a communications radio operator with a code speed of 25 wpm, I used such radio equipment as the SCR-177, SCR-188, and the SCR-399, sometimes in combat. Was required to operate the 2½ ton 6x6 truck as well as the attached radio set.
May 1955 to April 1956:
The first nine weeks was a mathematics review covering algebra and trigonometry, and a course in basic electronics including DC and AC theory, relationships of magnetism to electricity, resistors, capacitors, inductors, dielectrics, amplifiers, oscillators, multivibrators, signal generators, pulse shapers, RC time constants, coupling networks, peaking networks, clippers, limiters, diodes, triodes, tetrodes, pentodes, beam power tubes, impedance, resonance, klystrons, thyratrons, transmission lines, waveguides, antennas, radio energy propagation, amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, modulators, demodulators, rectifiers, power supplies, and culminated in the construction and circuit analysis of a superhererodyne radio receiver. The analog computer was taught in detail, physically, electronically, and mathematically.
Well, perhaps you are right about some things Wikipedia does, but in the case of “boffin,” Wikipedia got it right.
FReepers are awesome, fer shure! Fer shure!
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