[imagine this to the batman song: tadada-tadada-GEEK-HAG!!]

[reenka]

Sometimes I just don't think I have anything to post and eh, possibly get tempted to spend the day reading yaoi manga & avoiding productive things, but then I stumble across this @ fandom_wank: Gregory Benford against fantasy readers :D :D :D :D

Basically, I do think this is a real issue in the sci-fi/fantasy community, as wankily as he expressed it-- I mean, y'know, I do think fantasy is becoming more popular, people are more escapist, not as interested in futurist stuff, not as fascinated/impressed by 'ooh science' (and therefore geeks! geeks! geeks who're no longer in/reading Robert Heinlein novels as they're too busy writing code and making $$). On the one hand, I'm glad, 'cause obviously I'm a fantasy reader/writer more than a sci-fi person, but. Still.

I think the implication of 'intellectual cowardice' or laziness... I dunno, maybe of a sort. I think people aren't so much overwhelmed by the current world problems as kind of... all over the place? So many directions, so little real leadership or purpose, I think. Not a lack of intelligence or drive, even, just a lack of centralization or maybe it's that the overall globalization of the world community is just in a transitional stage. I think it's a temporary situation, kind of tentative and dangerous in its own way, but really... it's almost like the world is confused :>

I was trying to talk to INTP (um: the stereotypical 'sci-fi geek'-type) people about solving world issues at their community yesterday and I think I sort of put my foot in my mouth with the religiosity thing, but. I still think it's funny this person was stereotyping 'bleeding heart' emotional (& fantasy-obsessed, probably) people as not being willing to listen to 'real solutions' when she later admitted she was meeting them in a church o_0 o_0 o_0 (And... nothing against religious folks! Um. I just think organized faith != cold reason by definition even if you're a thinky type. Unless you're a rabbi, but. That's actually an in-joke.)

I think it's so funny and cute how they run around trying to make sense of and fix everything and take that even to the level of 'educating' the masses through sci-fi. Oh geeky-thinky types, HOW I LOVE YOU ♥♥♥. *HUG* (MUWAHAHAHAHAH.)

PS. I agree it seems Greg Benford doesn't read enough, which actually makes him unlike most sci-fi geeks I know, who consume nearly equal measures of sci-fi and fantasy. I also love this comment what with the sci-fi/fantasy luvluv smexing. ♥. I miss living on my engineering/computer floor. Teeeehee. I think I could never be a fag-hag 'cause I'm already a geek-hag :D :D :D
    (Um, disclaimer if found necessary: I'm actually a Real Geek Girl, all parts included, no refund necessary, see further attached disclaimer for details, and have a nice day.)

Also, vaguely offensive(?) but amusing & possibly true (but probably not) quote from comedian Mike McDonald: "Anybody who can take it up the ass must have a sense of humour."
    Hahah, it just makes me wanna utilize it -somehow- :D But I actually found this article by a self-professed 'fag-hag' to be kinda offensive. Dude. DUDE. Jeez, stereotype much? -.-

Comments

[triestine.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!1 Thanks for the link! Oh, better society! Yes! Because when I read Greg Bear's Eon I was in luuurve with his characters who are So Intellectually Advanced That He Has To Keep Telling Us That Nobody Can Understand Their Scientific Genius, So If We Readers Think They're Spewing Nonsense It Just Means We're Stupid And Greg Bear Is A GENIUS.
Now I love sci-fi, but oy. Please, it exercises the mind as much as a Fabio novel. I don't know why people have the need to destroy entertainment by pretending it's more than entertainment.

The sadness of the fag hag comes not from the lack of consummation in her relationship with her gay friend, but rather from the fact that everything in the world has to be reduced to sex.
Um, somebody should tell her it's possible to have straight male friends, and that the sadness she complains of is all hers.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess some stuff by some of the best (Philip K. Dick? Isaac Asimov? Ray Bradbury?) could be said to 'exercise the mind' 'cause they raised interesting questions about human nature and humanity's future & painted us in a new light and all that. Made ya think! But any good novel can do that. Um. Yeah, these days hard sci-fi authors think you need mumbo-jumbo for that. Alas, back in the old country, we walked 5 miles just to see a Star Trek re-run, etcetc :>

Yeah, man. Well, I guess it really is sad when you truly think All Straight Men Are Pigs. Possibly it's saddest that there are so many straight women like her. Oy, indeed :(

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

LOL! That's great. Especially that last comment.

I love your comment about church on that group--I thought the exact same thing. Here's somebody saying that "F's" (by which I guess he means F's instead of T's on the Meyers-Briggs) can only go with stupid feeling things and can't think...why on earth are they wasting their time in church? Of course, it was also just weird hearing how incapable I am of rationally discussing something. Meanwhile I feel like I spend half my time on lj trying to get people to stop thinking with their heart. I don't get how that works. Why do I always come out an F??? I know INFP always seems to fit me more than the others when I read it, so I don't get it!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Um, okay and I just read the fag hag article and yeah, offensive from start to finish. Not only tons of stereotypes about gay men, the implied assumption that gay men will apparently be friends with the dregs of society and whatever the hell she was saying about her sex life (and those must be really good friends you've got in those particular fags that they watch over your relationships like vultures hoping to fuck your boyfriend once he realizes he's not attracted to you), but I hated the implication that her drama teacher had to essentially teach her how to be a girl. It reminds me of my complaints about that "Queer Eye for the Straight Girl." As if we flat-chested prom-date-wannabees need a gay drama teacher to tell us we want to be actors or writers, or teach us the words to Chorus Line or to wear black.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Oh my Gah, seriously, I've got all these issues with the idea of teaching anyone to be a girl! I mean, I guess society is always doing that, teaching us how to be one gender or another, but when it's made obvious it's so irritating! Especially when the people don't just believe gender is a performance (which it may very well be in some ways!) but that inherent self-hatred coupled with projection coupled with imitating yourself through a mirror backwards... it all just hurts my head. -.-

...It retrospect it's kinda amusing 'cause she's so completely clueless and obvious and... okay, still distasteful. It's hard to watch people insult themselves, their friends and a whole group of people without even meaning to, just 'cause they're so... self-centered and dense, I guess? Her list of 'a fag' this and 'a fag' that is still ringing in my head. It's sort of scary to think why is it she's been able to spend all this time with apparently the same gay man repeated again and again in many simultaneous incarnations. It's a bit horrific o_0 I really don't get how stereotyping works on that level o_0

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it's hilarious how 'T' types, especially *TJ but also *TP types to a lesser extent, will just baldly state that anyone who's not linearly logical by preference, anyone who doesn't come to the same conclusions (or acknowledge the same -priorities-) as they do is clearly not thinking straight. A lot of people associate both method and specifically -result- with... uh... the substance (in this case, reason itself). Oh man :> I actually laugh at the Ts a lot of the time 'cause they confuse themselves with their own reasoning and can't 'get out' and see the bigger picture. But in this I'm being a bit biased, I admit ;)

I think with the Myers-Briggs (basically Jungian) system, it helps to understand why these letters 'work' the way they do; I didn't really trust it until I understood it, but it's actually a very helpful system. This (http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mb-types/infp.htm) might help to start with: basically, the reason a lot of INFPs 'come off as' INTPs (and can also amp up the extraversion if necessary, to the point where some wear the ESTJ 'business suit')-- is because the 'F' in this configuration is 'Introverted Feeling'; meaning, most of it is directed inward and is 'about' the self. I've always had this feeling of being quietly lost in my own emotions, but what I communicate to others is the 'Auxiliary' function of Extraverted Intuition, which can seem like a 'T'.

Um, the other thing is the fourth function of Extraverted Thinking, which is the least well developed but also the one INFPs fall back on under stress-- meaning, we become critical and perfectionist and quite, quite intellectually picky the more irritated and overwhelmed with people we become :> I mean, for an INFP, the initial motivator is some idealistic goal, some value, and 'to stop thinking with their heart'-- that is a value :D I mean, for an INTP, that's less a value and more a way of life, but it's the difference between approaches, I think. A 'T' type will just push their reasoning onto others rather than trying to understand or make others understand in a more holistic manner; for a 'T', there is a Truth, and that Truth is self-evident; if you don't get it, you're a 'frickin' moron', and that's final, y'know? :>

The 'F' thing is really measuring whether you use feeling (values, beliefs, etc) or (rational) thought to make decisions for yourself, like-- it's that difference between later explaining what you 'know' feels right and showing how it makes sense and um, always knowing how you know because it's built on what you perceive as facts. Um. If that makes sense... I should probably actually point you here (http://forums.intpcentral.com/showpost.php?p=56822&postcount=76), but there's a lot more research available online, as you can imagine :>

What annoys me the most is how even intelligent, 'rational' types will sit there and tell you they're an 'admixture' of INFP & INTP, or INFP & ENFP, or what have you. Everyone has both T and F, E and I tendencies, showing one or the other depending on circumstance; the point is what you're naturally most given towards or comfortable with, what you fall back on, what function it serves as dynamic with the other traits. Oh my gahd, but how I hate when people don't do their research. Yeah, hi, 'feeling' irrational type here and I haaaaaaate when people only think they think, and I'm quite perfectionistic & demanding about it. :P INFP stands for 'I Never Find Perfection', you know ;)) hee.