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    Doctor Says That Calling Someone “Nerd” Or “Geek” Should Be A Hate Crime

    By
    Comic Book Guy

    Every once in a while, there’s a story that comes along that’s so ridiculous, you think you’re reading satire. Well, if you’re into those types of stories, today is your lucky day – because we’ve got one for you. Especially if you consider yourself to be a geek or a nerd. Sorry in advance if that is offensive language.

    Dr. Sonja Falck, also a psychology lecturer at University of East London, recently did an interview in which she said calling someone a “nerd” or a “geek” should be a hate crime – along with terms like “egghead” and “brainiac”.

    “I think people find it startling because very high IQ people are a minority group in society who are very much ignored, they’re not understood and largely neglected,” she said. “It is the case that very high IQ people very often are bullied at school, for example. They’re a target for being bullied quite viciously.”

    Falk talked about the differences in people’s brains, saying that it “is an aspect of individual difference, which really ought to be recognized by society”.

    She also added:

    “If you look at those legislations that relate to hate crimes, hate crime is simply about somebody being targeted in a negative way for who they are. And a person with a very high IQ who comes across in a different way often is targeted in that way. So I just think [it’s] an individual difference that should be respected.”

    Well, here at ScreenGeek, we have actually embraced the term – given that it’s in our name, so we’re not quite sure that it’s all that offensive anymore. It might have been a mean thing to say years ago, but it’s kind of become something different in today’s day and age. It doesn’t reall carry the stigma it once did.

    As far as the future of ScreenGeek, we’ll keep you updated as to whether or not if we will change the name of our site in the future due to these comments.