[Noisebridge-discuss] Geek Social Fallacy #1: Ostracizers Are Evil

[Kelly]

I'll just leave this here.

Geek Social Fallacy #1: Ostracizers Are Evil

GSF1 is one of the most common fallacies, and one of the most deeply
held. Many geeks have had horrible, humiliating, and formative
experiences with ostracism, and the notion of being on the other side
of the transaction is repugnant to them.

In its non-pathological form, GSF1 is benign, and even commendable: it
is long past time we all grew up and stopped with the junior high
popularity games. However, in its pathological form, GSF1 prevents its
carrier from participating in -- or tolerating -- the exclusion of
anyone from anything, be it a party, a comic book store, or a web
forum, and no matter how obnoxious, offensive, or aromatic the
prospective excludee may be.

As a result, nearly every geek social group of significant size has at
least one member that 80% of the members hate, and the remaining 20%
merely tolerate. If GSF1 exists in sufficient concentration -- and it
usually does -- it is impossible to expel a person who actively
detracts from every social event. GSF1 protocol permits you not to
invite someone you don't like to a given event, but if someone spills
the beans and our hypothetical Cat Piss Man invites himself, there is
no recourse. You must put up with him, or you will be an Evil
Ostracizer and might as well go out for the football team.

This phenomenon has a number of unpleasant consequences. For one
thing, it actively hinders the wider acceptance of geek-related
activities: I don't know that RPGs and comics would be more popular if
there were fewer trolls who smell of cheese hassling the new blood,
but I'm sure it couldn't hurt. For another, when nothing smacking of
social selectiveness can be discussed in public, people inevitably
begin to organize activities in secret. These conspiracies often lead
to more problems down the line, and the end result is as juvenile as
anything a seventh-grader ever dreamed of.

From: http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html