Jerk-ism

[Timsup2nothin]

I can be a jerk. I know to some of you this is no surprise. When I was young there was no internet, but I could be a jerk even back then. So what does this have to do with anything? I bring it up because there has been a lot of discussions lately about racism and sexism and whatever else.

Jerks often have an agenda; to make people mad. Sometimes just to throw them off in an argument. Sometimes to get them to swing first for the benefit of the witnesses. But for whatever reason, jerks tend to use terms that might be racist, or sexist, or ageist, or slurs of just about any kind.

But that doesn't mean the jerk actually is a racist or whatever. They might just be jerks. And those slurs are ideal jerk material. I mean, if the objective is to make someone mad you have some choices. You can randomly try making fun of some prominent feature, like if I wanted to pick a fight with Bill Clinton there are things to say about his nose that I'm sure he has heard before and might be sensitive to. But usually the easiest path with the best chance of success is to go straight to certain loaded slurs that will almost always make someone lose their mind on the spot.

So the next time someone looks like a total racist or whatever, consider they might just be a run of the mill jerk.

 

[Kozmos]

I call these people trolls nowadays. Jerk is reserved for people with actual malice as opposed to it being done for the 'lulz'.

 

[Hygro]

Yo man I was just thinking about this! I've been playing a lot of starcraft 2 lately and there's a small subset of people saying racist/sexist/homophobic/impersonal-personal-attack-words/etc. They are trying to frustrate your game by frustrating you. They aren't trying to advance a racist/etc agenda, nor necessarily revealing a deep bias, they just know that these things push peoples buttons and they get a kick/get a competitive advantage.

They are the basest form of trolls.

They tend to view interactions as adversarial and zero-sum, so they contextualize your responses. If you call them out for reinforcing oppression, in their mind they are winning and didn't ever stop to think about what that means, though you hope one day later it will itch them and they think about it then. The best thing you can do is be cooler and more competent than they are, and then offhandedly dismiss them for their hate-based language.

 

[Daw]

The worst thing about trolls is that they make any discussion they participate in flooded and non-specific. Otherwise they are more or less harmless, but it's quite hard to talk in their presence. It's like radio jamming: you just can't concentrate on the conversation with so much noise, and that's what's really annoying about them.

 

[Cutlass]

I think an awful lot of jerks really don't think it through before acting jerkish.

 

[Farm Boy]

Yo man I was just thinking about this! I've been playing a lot of starcraft 2 lately and there's a small subset of people saying racist/sexist/homophobic/impersonal-personal-attack-words/etc. They are trying to frustrate your game by frustrating you. They aren't trying to advance a racist/etc agenda, nor necessarily revealing a deep bias, they just know that these things push peoples buttons and they get a kick/get a competitive advantage.

They are the basest form of trolls.

They tend to view interactions as adversarial and zero-sum, so they contextualize your responses. If you call them out for reinforcing oppression, in their mind they are winning and didn't ever stop to think about what that means, though you hope one day later it will itch them and they think about it then. The best thing you can do is be cooler and more competent than they are, and then offhandedly dismiss them for their hate-based language.

Ah Blizzard's fanbase. One half step up from League of Legends', and one step up from Dota's. Should games go the way Heroes of Hearthstone has gone? You are allowed 6 preset "emotes" and past that, no competitive communication allowed? I always thought that was handled adequately by allowing players to auto-squelch opponents by default, but things might be drifting away from that.

 

[warpus]

These days it's sometimes hard to distinguish between a racist, a jerk, and a misguided and vocal nice guy with strong opinions.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I can be a jerk. I know to some of you this is no surprise. When I was young there was no internet, but I could be a jerk even back then. So what does this have to do with anything? I bring it up because there has been a lot of discussions lately about racism and sexism and whatever else.

Jerks often have an agenda; to make people mad. Sometimes just to throw them off in an argument. Sometimes to get them to swing first for the benefit of the witnesses. But for whatever reason, jerks tend to use terms that might be racist, or sexist, or ageist, or slurs of just about any kind.

But that doesn't mean the jerk actually is a racist or whatever. They might just be jerks. And those slurs are ideal jerk material. I mean, if the objective is to make someone mad you have some choices. You can randomly try making fun of some prominent feature, like if I wanted to pick a fight with Bill Clinton there are things to say about his nose that I'm sure he has heard before and might be sensitive to. But usually the easiest path with the best chance of success is to go straight to certain loaded slurs that will almost always make someone lose their mind on the spot.

So the next time someone looks like a total racist or whatever, consider they might just be a run of the mill jerk.

What you have described is commonly known online as a troll. Offline, the word 'jerk' is apt (you'd get odd looks in RL if you openly called someone a troll, but if you call them a jerk, they know what you mean).

Online, a troll is someone who deliberately insults, baits, is passive-aggressive, is condescending, and other such behaviors that result in the person(s) being addressed being made to feel angry, hurt, or insulted.

There can be jerks online, too. An online jerk is someone like a pro Star Trek author sticking his nose in the air and asking me what makes me think I've got a valid opinion about Star Trek books unless I'm actually being paid to write them. That person was a jerk, and he just guaranteed that I will NEVER buy another of his books, ever.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Jerks or trolls...the point is that they might use a slur of whatever kind just because it works, not because they are actually prejudiced in the way the use of that slur might indicate. I use a particular slur normally associated with sexists of the worst kind every time I refer to my sister in law. This has the desired effect, in that my brother will not come within a thousand miles of me. My sister, who mostly raised me and certainly beat any potential sexism out of me at an early age, understands this completely and since she lives near me and shares in the benefits she pretty much approves...but at the very least she knows I'm not motivated by sexism, just convenience. It's just that no other way to run him off has proven anywhere near as effective.

 

[Borachio]

^ Dysfunctional family?

My brother emigrated to Australia 40 years ago. And my mother claimed to feel a sense of relief at the time.

He's actually a very, very nice person. Just rather intense. They say. His ex-wife suspects Aspergers.

Some siblings get on. Others don't, I think. "Getting on" isn't obligatory.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

^ Dysfunctional family?

Family that functions better without my brother at the very least. Hint: If you are the sibling that lives a thousand miles away and contributes nothing to taking care of aging parents, showing up every couple years and making things harder on the siblings that are taking care of them will not score you any points.

 

[peter grimes]

Holy cow my sister is the family jerk! I've never put 2 and 2 together before. I guess when you're that close to it sometimes it's hard to see.

She lives in Oregon, the rest of us are still in the NorthEast. Whenever she visits she acts like an entitled princess. I'm on. Mobile or is share some doozies. It's especially awful because my retired mother buys the plane tix for my sister and neice, who then show very little graciousness. It drives me up the wall.

 

[BenitoChavez]

Ah Blizzard's fanbase. One half step up from League of Legends', and one step up from Dota's. Should games go the way Heroes of Hearthstone has gone? You are allowed 6 preset "emotes" and past that, no competitive communication allowed? I always thought that was handled adequately by allowing players to auto-squelch opponents by default, but things might be drifting away from that.

As an avid Hearthstone player, the 6 emote system isn't all that its cracked up to be. Even such a simple system is open to abuse (e.g. your opponent spams "thank you" the turn before they win) and misinterpretation (Should I take that "Well Played" emote literally or as sarcasm?). Squelch does help, but if you've ever ventured into the Hearthstone forums, you'll see many threads on the subject of Bad Manners.

 

[Farm Boy]

It'd be acceptable if they put in autosquelch as a default option.

 

[Zack]

As an avid Hearthstone player, the 6 emote system isn't all that its cracked up to be. Even such a simple system is open to abuse (e.g. your opponent spams "thank you" the turn before they win) and misinterpretation (Should I take that "Well Played" emote literally or as sarcasm?). Squelch does help, but if you've ever ventured into the Hearthstone forums, you'll see many threads on the subject of Bad Manners.

I think the problem is that the heroes tend to speak in a sarcastic tone. But seriously, if you're offended by it, squelching barely takes two seconds.

 

[Farm Boy]

I know, but it's every game, I never want to hear them, and unless the opponent automatically "WELL MET!"s at the begging of the match to remind me, I'm going to forget to squelch sometimes and I'm left slow rolling the entire rest of the game as a futile protest against the currently designed system.

 

[Zack]

Oh, I agree with you. There are a lot of missing little features like that.

 

[Farm Boy]

I should really finish up my last arena run, I don't think it has any naxx cards in it. Which is pretty sad now that I think about how long it's been open.

 

[bhsup]

I've become MUCH more jerkish over the last few years. Really, I used to be a really nice guy in almost every respect. I'm still quite pleasant most of the time, but for some reason I've just become far less tolerant of views that I see as stupid and I don't hesitate in telling people their views, as much as I may respect their right to have them, are frakking stupid. Frequently in more intolerant language than "frakking stupid."

Why has this change occured? Honestly, I don't know. Maybe just getting older and more get off my lawn-ish, I really don't know. Maybe I've just heard the same blathering lines about some topics so many times now that my patience in hearing it again is nil. *shrugs*

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

This is like the Jerk Anonymous, but without the Anonymous

Hi! I am Ziggy and I can be a jerk. It has been about 9 minutes till my last case of jerkism *waits for the applause to die down* I have been practicing for 9 years here, so it's no surprise I became rather good at it. And when I say good, I mean that I learned that being a jerk in a polite non forum rules breaking way can be so much more effective than simply calling people poopieheads.