(October 5, 2015 at 4:08 pm)lkingpinl Wrote: Same here when I played pen and paper D&D back in middle school. I think that's why I joined track and set so many school records, I had lots of practice running from the bullies.
Ditto. Except I was placed in a very good martial arts school when I came home bloody from kindergarten after trying the word "salutations" on a fellow kindergartener. I didn't know it wasn't normal to talk like I did!
I was a martial artist, and so was not afraid of having to fight the bullies... but we moved so much (dad is an engineer, and was often sent to a new plant every few years) that I was constantly meeting the "big, cool kids" as a geeky New Kid™. Luckily, my parents only punished me if I fought when I could have backed out of it somehow.
In junior high, I discovered groups of geeks like me, and started playing D&D and in general enjoying my geekiness. This didn't make the bullies less aggressive, but when I wasn't forced by the school system to be around them, I had few problems, and enjoyed having geek friends. Summers, afternoons, and weekends were great, with them.
By the time I hit highschool, I didn't care; I practically lived at the local college, where I fit right in. Still wasn't one of the "cool kids", but it no longer mattered to me that I didn't fit in with my own age-group.
I must confess, though, I find it a little shocking (but awesome!) that the things I was teased about, growing up, are now considered cool (by some), and the old standards of what previously meant coolness are now seen as douchebaggery. But it wouldn't matter, since as the OP suggests, geekdom is really a matter of saying "I don't care if you think I should like football and should not like LotR. Tolkien is awesome. Dr.Who/Trek/SW are awesome. Videogames are awesome. So I'm going to revel in them!"
The invention of the internet allowed us all to collectively go, "You too? Hells yeah I'll go to the Trek convention with you!" We realized that we weren't the only person on earth saying the above. Awesome!
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
