Within the constellation of allied hobbies and subcultures collectively known as geekdom, one finds many social groups bent under a crushing burden of dysfunction, social drama, and general interpersonal wack-ness. It is my opinion that many of these never-ending crises are sparked off by an assortment of pernicious social fallacies -- ideas about human interaction which spur their holders to do terrible and stupid things to themselves and to each other.It seems to me that with the exception of number four, which isn't applicable in the romantic sense, these fallacies could not only apply as readily to the female perspective on friends, but on romantic relationships as well.
Social fallacies are particularly insidious because they tend to be exaggerated versions of notions that are themselves entirely reasonable and unobjectionable. It's difficult to debunk the pathological fallacy without seeming to argue against its reasonable form; therefore, once it establishes itself, a social fallacy is extremely difficult to dislodge. It's my hope that drawing attention to some of them may be a step in the right direction.
I want to note that I'm not trying to say that every geek subscribes to every one of the fallacies I outline here; every individual subscribes to a different set of ideas, and adheres to any given idea with a different amount of zeal.
In any event, here are five geek social fallacies I've identified.
- Ostracizers are evil
- Friends accept me as I am
- Friendship before all
- Friendship is transitive
- Friends do everything together
This tends to offer some support for the idea that gammas are men who, for some reason, have gotten their internal wires crossed and react to both men and women in an essentially female manner. They're essentially handicapped by socio-sexual retardation. I don't know if it is genetic, the result of one's upbringing, or as is so often the case, some combination therein, but the handicap may help explain the total inability of gammas to understand men who rank higher in the socio-sexual hierarchy and vice-versa.
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