[2011-Nov-19] Terrible Graph Joke

[Eisbreaker]

Nerds have terrible jokes like these to distract them.

[DonRetrasado]

Except that Uncle Rico is supposed to be a tremendous nerd and loser. He's a former high-school quarterback but even then all of his bragging and stories are posturing, meant to impress his nephews, like in Death of a Salesman. He tries to make his youth sound good because he wants to fool himself and the people around him into thinking that he was successful in his youth. The movie's about being trapped in a small town with no future and people don't even like you there. How did you misunderstand the stupidest fucking movie? (I still liked it)

FAKE EDIT: If you think that Napoleon Dynamite kicks it and suddenly gets really satisfied then you have another thing coming. Not everything ends like a fairy tale.

[Felstaff]

Napoleon Dynamite was an accidental masterpiece. Evidence: Gentlemen Broncos

[LORD RACIST SATAN]

Most lives suck. People just falsely think they get better.

None of us have countless harems and castles and people to wipe our bottoms. That is the example of a complete life.

Speak for yourself, although admittedly, my harems are countable and I can wipe on my own, I still think I'm doing alright.

[headcode]

Jeez, I really liked this one. Then again, I don't demand that Zach gives me a belly laugh every day. I like the ones that are insightful and even poignant. To me this one represents a nerds continued fascination with and interest in the things life has to offer and not being someone who thought that high school and college were the best days of his life.

Perhaps you're all just trolling?

[DonRetrasado]

No, it's genuinely stupid. It's that rosy impression when a socially awkward teenager goes "I hate high school! One day I'll be really successful and smart, and all the idiots I went to school with who enjoyed their time will never amount to anything!" There are way too many assumptions here. Now, let's assume that a nerd is someone who is socially awkward and maybe has a greater interest in science or the world or whatever (which we will soon question). Never mind that a "nerd" is an extremely vague label that only means anything in high school. First off, your archetypal awkward high school nerd is so disconnected from the majority of his peers that he has no idea who's going through what. When I graduated high school there were a lot of people that I barely talked to and assumed had the life that I later talked to and learned that they had problems of their own. As I got older and got better at talking to people, I found it a lot easier to get people to open up about what was really going on, instead of seeing their high school façade. There's also a fact that not every nerd ends up being successful. In the first case there's no way to prove that nerds end up more successful and satisfied, but there is anecdotal evidence that things might not work out for both nerds and normal folks. In the same way you can't prove that the meathead who loved high school and fucked the head cheerleader suddenly had a negative turn for some inexplicable reason. But that's an extreme example, because in reality, tons of normal folks I went to high school with ended up studying sciences in university, discovered that they actually loved it and are currently pursuing careers in sciences. And then continued to run totally normal fucking lives. But more than that, I contend that people that are called "nerds" are really just awkward kids with a few specific interests and skills. i.e. a normal person who is awkward. And with the advent of "geek chic" and the like, many normal people self-identify as "nerds" because that's the subculture. Because being a "nerd" doesn't actually mean anything.

Low life satisfaction is a medical condition. It's called DEPRESSION

EDIT: Most people I went to in high school played video games and had interests, that didn't make them nerds.

[None]

http://youtu.be/FCf8zvVXVAk

[Kirkaine]

One thing Zach might have been trying to joke about is the "college party" thing (which is hardly as ubiquitous as people assume, even under the already horribly inaccurate assumption that "most" 18-22 year olds are in college in the first place). "Ordinary" people are thus assumed to be getting tons of life satisfaction when they're 21 (because alcohol and sex increase life satisfaction, right?) while "nerds" barely notice and/or have less life satisfaction due to not attending said parties. Which explains the votey somewhat: "extroverted nerds" would be partyin' as teenangsters and then somehow switch to making intelligent life choices after the novelty wears off.

Extroverted nerd here, and that's exactly how I read it. I know plenty of other students at my college who miss out on the whole "college party" thing, which I'd say is pretty damn ubiquitous, and I know plenty of people back in my hometown who are dropping out of college and will likely work retail for the rest of their lives. Extroverted nerds go to college, party it up for a few years and still come out the other side with a degree that's worth the paper it's printed on.

[In Jam]

I too have decided I am the good version of the nerd

[Eisbreaker]

That's racist.

[In Jam]

A lot of racism is true, you can even say it, you just have to use "In general" as a prefix. For example:

In general, black people like watermelon more than white people.

In general, black people are better runners than white people.

In general, black people are less intelligent than white people, because they are primitive, apelike beings.

[ChazzInMT]

Hey, as a self professed nerd at 49, I can relate to this graph and think it's great. I have noticed in my life that being interested in many things outside myself have given me inner peace and understanding of what is truly important in life and what isn't. I know drawing generalizations about any group is not an ideal way to go through life.

Also, I think this could be looked at from the point of view of Uber Geek Bill Gates.....no denying the applicability there.

But I'd say, from my perspective, the older I get, the more my satisfaction with life increases because I'm smart enough to recognize the important things in life.

Great Coomic!!! Anyone who doesn't get it, must be under 30 and you're still living before the divergence. When you get older, you'll understand, unless you're a "most people", then you're doomed.

[Oldrac the Chitinous]

If you were born before 1980, you're an egghead, not a nerd.

Sorry, man, them's the breaks.

[DonRetrasado]

Great Coomic!!! Anyone who doesn't get it, must be under 30 and you're still living before the divergence. When you get older, you'll understand, unless you're a "most people", then you're doomed.

Zach is 29 years old.

[Dr. T]

Introverted Nerd, age 40+:
- Great job where my work is my former hobby - check
- Above average income - check
- Allowed to read web comics during work time - check
- Not having to deal with stupid people anymore - check
- Still no gross diseases - check
- Loads more sex than in high school or university - check
At least for me the graph is accurate. Yay Nerds!