Humour

Nipping the stereotypists

T A Balasubramanian attempts to destroy a few myths about nerds.

All set to dive again into the unknown, Bobo Jitter, the perpetually beguiled CIO of Bazooka Company is back for a long interactive session with the incorrigible Dr Don Jong. More familiarly called ‘The Oddfather,’ Dr Jong has an unerring ability to come up with uncommon solutions for handling the admittedly fuzzy situations that are typical of the IT world.

“Ah, so what seems to swim through your mind, Bobo … of course you seem more peaceful today, if I may say so?” says Dr Jong, lighting his pipe and breaking into a smile.

“How is it that you understand the problems of techies—or nerds—so well, Doc?”

“Well Bobo, my father grew up the hard way in trying times. When he sometimes tells me about his childhood, it has become clear to me that just graduating from school—or even just continuing with life in general—during those circumstances was an achievement. He also told me once about his two friends of that time. These two saw that he was going through a really difficult time, and they took care to help him through it—by cheering him and spending quality time amusing him.”

“They were true childhood friends, eh? The ones we never forget?”

“Yes, but in hindsight it is interesting to note that the two friends that cared about him later grew up to become software engineers working in large IT companies—the ones who are called techies, or nerds. On the other hand, some of his classmates did not show this kind of caring—they were perhaps quiet or even withdrawn types that would not talk to anybody except the teachers. And all of these quiet kids then grew up to become psychiatrists, doctors, teachers and other professions, where they are required to talk to people and care about their problems professionally every day.”

“Amazing, Doc. You have put the so-called caring professionals on the mat, and psychiatrists first in the list—even though you are one yourself.”

“Well, my boy, we medical and psychology hounds could do with a dash of humane feelings in our veins, you know. But the story is to explain to you why I sympathise with nerds and understand their problems so well.”

“Right, Doc. The point you make about nerds is something I heartily endorse. They care about people even if they are not demonstrative about their feelings.”

“Well, Bobo, all of us non-nerds should feel privileged if we have nerd friends or business partners—or of course if I—count myself as being one among the herds of nerds. Let me tell you that nerds are worthy of ruling the world. It is a common stereotype that nerds are silent and shy people, perhaps even difficult to get along with. But if you think of all the communication systems nerds have created, you could almost claim the opposite is true. Nerds obviously love to keep in touch with each other. Or maybe both of these are true. I once heard someone saying, that nerds prefer to communicate by various technological means, so as not to be directly exposed to the other party of the communication.”

“Well, Doc, at least this is why I enjoy sending text messages so much. It is a minimised form of communication. You can say what needs to be said, but with as little interaction as possible, like in a Charlie Chaplin movie.”

“Of course, Bobo. They like that remoteness from actual face-to-face interaction, even if the person they want to talk to is just a few feet away. Actually, I remember doing some really nerdy stuff during my first year studying psychiatry. Once my peer group and this tutor were in a computer classroom. We sat next to each other each with our own computers and chatted away on text mode without anybody speaking out loud for about two hours. I can see how that kind of chat could be attractive for guys with laptops or cellphones caught in a meeting and getting bored with the proceedings.”

“Well, Doc, it’s a rare medico who would admit to being a nerd himself, but you are, indeed different.”

“Oh, we have to keep working hard to fight the stereotype images we have of the professional, my boy.”

“That’s true, Doc. I gave a talk at my wife’s Social Club last week, and you know, one of the first questions afterwards touched on the subject of the nerd or engineer stereotype, when this lady came up to me and said: ‘Excuse me for saying so, but your talk is rather deep and insightful for an engineer.’ Now that was a shock, Doc. We nerds, in the public eye, are not expected to be deep and insightful? Where did they get that?”

“People are lazy in their imagination, Bobo. They like to feed the average banana to an average monkey, expecting it to grab what is offered. If the monkey were to turn away disdainfully, it surprises the hell out of the average stereotypist person.”

“So what do we do Doc? I mean, the world is full of stereotypists –to borrow your excellent phrase.”

“Be politely disdainful with the stereotypists. So when the lady is making you squirm, explain that the opposite is true. That contrary to common belief, most engineers and IT guys in particular—such as yourself—are sensitive nerds—people with warm feelings and fuzzy thoughts. You tell her that you have to be that way, because every day you are working with solving the problems of other people—such as she. Problems like, how could her company work more productively? How could you help so that her job could be easier? How could her grandmother be in touch with her grandchildren who live in Australia? How could they talk to each other? How could this semi-conductor produce light cheaper than her current light bulbs so that poor countries could afford them, and use less energy, thus becoming more environment friendly?”

“All right, Doc. That’s what I should be doing to these stereotypists.”

“Well, Bobo, We have established that we have nerds to thank for many of the crucial comforts of our everyday lives. We are saying that nerds are nice people—stereotypes be microwaved! They are humans who care about ordinary people like you and if you have a problem they like to help you with solutions to it.”

“I know I like solving problems, Doc.”

“And the way to engage the critical stereotypist is to say—’It is true that often if you have a problem, it helps if you have someone you can talk to about it. The only problem with a nerd—like me—is that he is just interested in your problem because he wants to solve it, not because talking about it in itself would be interesting. You may already know this if you are married to a nerd. In this case, you should try to write a text message to the nerd or chat with him over the Internet.”

“Well, Doc, then anyone should be lucky if they have a nerd around when they panic.”

“Voila, you are enlightened. But of course, we psychiatrists should now be wary of you sensitive nerds, eh? You may just take out jobs away.”