POSTED BY

Joel Johnson

AT 11:27 AM
Friday May 15, 2009

Community • Media

geeks • l.a. times • neumont

It's 2009 and the L.A. Times is still treating geeks as mysterious others

loganneufeld.jpgThe L.A. Times profiles Utah's Neumont University, said by some to be a "geek heaven", but also known as a school that exacerbates their students asocial tendencies.

Some of Neumont's female students, who make up about 5% of the 266 enrolled this year, are on a mission to get their peers to tune in to the world around them. In October, one posted a message on Neumont's Web forums protesting what she called "offensive odors."

"The truth is there are people in this school who just don't smell pleasant at all," she wrote.

There's a lingering sneer throughout the whole piece (typified by the unflattering picture of this poor student) that makes it seem like something from thirty years ago, before geeks were an identifiable subculture unto themselves and before the business world figured out it was best to leave them alone and let them get to work. Neumont is an accelerated programming school, pushing students through a degree in two-and-a-half years—you're gonna get some kids who enjoy a little dungeon crawling. If the worst you can claim is that they're awkward and occasionally smelly, you're not telling anybody anything they didn't already know. Leave mocking geeks to other geeks. We've evolved far less subtle and infinitely more powerful mechanisms for inoculating ourselves against the slings and arrows of regular folk. (c.f. Something Awful)

(Although I'm going to have to back Alana Semuels on the stink thing: Geeks—and in my experience this applies trebly to those of the core gamer variant—can occasionally smell like a sarlacc's vagina. Take a shower every single day. I don't care to hear your excuses about sensitive skin or brittle hair. Wash yourself with soap every day, perhaps even twice if necessary, and wear clean clothes. You're not just embarrassing yourself—you're embarrassing the rest of us.) [via The Awl (which is read by dicks, judging by the comments. Mean ol' dicks!)]

11 Comments

Joel Johnson

#1 – 1:07 PM May 15, 2009

I just want to clarify that the author of this article (from Oregon) is not the same Joel Johnson (me, not from Oregon) who is a Student at Neumont University. It is just a strange coincidence, which adds to the humor of all of this, as the "unfortunate student" pictured is actually me, Joel Johnson, not whomever the LATimes said it was.

O_M

#2 – 1:12 PM May 15, 2009

...Hear Hear! One of the most disgusting and nauseating experiences of going to major conventions is the sheer number of geeks, nerds, maladroits and other social retards who show up not only having not bathed in days and/or used any form of deodorant, they also wear clothes that haven't been properly washed in at least a month. The sole difference in the stench between these Comic Book Guys and your smelly old bum on the street is that the twin scents of pure urine and cheap alcohol are usually not present. It would be a blessing and a major increase in the reputation of most conventions if they put up a sign at the entrance that specifically states that if your body odor is too offensive, you will be asked to leave until you do something about it.

Bottom Line: No matter how nonexistent your social life is, hygiene is still important!

dculberson

#3 – 1:17 PM May 15, 2009

No joke, I don't understand why hygiene can be so mysterious to someone that can recompile a kernel. Shower, soap, clean clothes. Hopefully some deodorant. Not that complicated!

I was a stinky teenager that showered maybe every couple of days. Daily showering is an easy habit to break, but also easy to form. Especially when you realize that bad hygiene is an instant disqualification with 99% of women out there. Even if you're relatively good looking, smelling like a wet gym sock is going to completely ruin your chances with a woman. If you're overweight and/or unfortunate looking -and- stinky? Forget about it.

Dillenger69

#4 – 2:43 PM May 15, 2009

It goes the other way too. Most of us don't want to think we're standing near the perfume counter or deodorant aisle. Most of the scented products out there completely reek. Nothing makes me want to puke more than smelling someone before I see them, from B.O. or something from a can. (this include YOU patchouli people)

Kakama

#5 – 3:09 PM May 15, 2009

The hygiene is more of a joke with students here, as a whole we're mostly standard clean students; business professionalism is highly stressed.

The LA Times is insolent. I will now go inform them of this.

O_M

#6 – 3:58 PM May 15, 2009

"It goes the other way too. Most of us don't want to think we're standing near the perfume counter or deodorant aisle. "

...Oh, excellent point! Back in my TV days, we had this one old bat in charge of advertising who we were convinced never actually bathed. She just dumped an entire bottle of perfume on her body every morning and rubbed herself all over with it. Whenever she got into the elevator to go from the entrance to her fourth floor office, the stench of the perfume was so strong that the elevator retained it until Noon. We eventually put a heavy-duty fan in the elevator roof to suck out the fumes, but even that had little effect.

...The punch line was that one of the floor crew, who apparently had an allergy to whatever fusils were being used in her perfume, suffered a major allergy attack. When he got back to work, he shoved an anon letter under her door one night, telling her she was killing people with her perfume. Her response was to simply switch brands but continued the concentration. The floor crew guy turned in his resignation, citing the sole reason why, but up until the day she retired she continued to fume up the elevator. Even Dan Rather reportedly commented very negatively on it during a visit in 1992!

ben c

#7 – 6:00 PM May 15, 2009

to be fair joel, i attend one of these 'geek' colleges and those women aren't lying. some students really do smell bad, its pretty horrible, i've seen the worst geek stereotypes at this place

graphicsman

#8 – 2:37 PM May 16, 2009

Anybody ever read Spider Robinson's "Very Bad" books? The smelly guy was smelling on purpose because he had the ability to read minds in proximity...

graphicsman

#9 – 2:38 PM May 16, 2009

Anybody ever read Spider Robinson's "Very Bad" books? The smelly guy was smelling on purpose because he had the ability to read minds in proximity...

Lance B

#10 – 2:59 PM May 16, 2009

@BEN C,

And continuing in fairness: There are going to be smelly students at any school, not just the "geek schools."

elguapostrikes

#11 – 10:44 AM May 17, 2009

try going to a hippie environmental school. my favorites are the ones who smell like hamster cages.

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