Matt Yglesias

31 Responses to “Michael Goldfard: Closet D&D Fan”

1. JuJu Says:
   August 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

   Pro-Obama D&D geeks can’t back down. They should Wear this shirt with pride:

   http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/4241/obama20sjy0.jpg

2. Petey Says:
   August 20th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

   Stephanie Tubbs Jones RIP.

   One of my ten favorite congresscritters.

3. Peter K. Says:
   August 20th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

   Geeks making fun of geeks making fun of geeks … and so on … and so on … it’s turtles all the way down. As Juju points out at least some aren’t in denial like McCain’s blogger.

4. Petey Says:
   August 20th, 2008 at 2:41 pm

   Viva Stephanie Tubbs Jones!

5. Berken Says:
   August 20th, 2008 at 3:41 pm

   As many D&D veterans as there are among the literate class, perhaps its the non-gamers who are the oddballs?

   Even better, howabouts we try to reduce the juvenile, degrading name-calling against people who are minding their own business, enjoying their own hobbies, and not doing the rest of us any harm? It would make a good addition to Obama’s plan for the new revival of the American spirit or whatever. Tolerance and good manners, anyone?

6. Resistance Says:
   August 20th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

   I dunno– I think he can know a lot about it (or even like it) but still think the culture around it or a lot of people who are into it are really uncool. That said, I think what happened was the Rs were trying to distance themselves from this stuff because they thought it would be better PR for them to look like anti-geeks, but it backfired because so many Rs are D&D (that is, pathetic/unrealistic) type geeks.

7. Swan Says:
   August 20th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

   Ds tend to have lives and grown-up interests, but Rs are more likely to like D&D and to like it forever, I bet, especially if we’re not talking about computer games but rather board (RPG) games.

8. noname Says:
   August 20th, 2008 at 4:22 pm

   The fatassed blogger Michael Goldfarb sat around his dorm room throughout his four years at Princeton, smoked pounds of weed, and played computer games.

   No joke.

9. Resistance Says:
   August 20th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

   Think of the guy who wrote 300, or guys like the comic-book-store-owner character from the Simpsons– the Evil Nerds are out there. They’re people who may fare well on an IQ test or who at least hold themselves out as being nerds, but they have very poor emotional intelligence and haven’t figured out a lot of basic things most people have– so they’re misogynistic, racist, immature, self-absorbed, etc.

   They’re dudes who have a chip on their shoulders and a grudge against the world because of their own inadequacies and failures, and they rationalize it or express it through conservative (misanthropic/anti-social) ideology.

10. szr Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    But Mr. Resistance, you can’t define people as racist, misogynistic, immature or self-absorbed based on liking to play D&D. You can only define a racist by his or her actually committing racist acts. Otherwise you’re in the “only lesbians ride bikes” territory. A fun way to vent your spleen perhaps, but leaving quite a lot to be desired in terms of logic.

11. Richard Steven Hack Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 8:02 pm

    Resistance definitely sounds like a guy without a chip on his shoulder about racist, misogynist, immature, self-absorbed nerds – one of whom probably stole his girlfriend when the nerd got an IPO that made him a millionaire in the ’90’s.

    And conflating nerds with conservatives is idiotic, despite the known overlap between computer geeks, sci-fi fans, and libertarians. The real gaping hole between those groups and “the rest of you” is called IMAGINATION – something people like Matt and Resistance are seriously short on.

    Go ahead, come at me, I have a million hit points!

12. Gerald Fnord Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 8:04 pm

    As far as I can see, the Republican mental universe is the middle-school playground, if not the primary school’s.

    (But Bush is not the bully: he’s the popular kid who doesn’t have to be a bully because the bullies all suck up to him.)

13. Resistance Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 10:31 pm

    But Mr. Resistance, you can’t define people as racist, misogynistic, immature or self-absorbed based on liking to play D&D.

    Well, of course that’s not what I was doing.

    RSH, the only purpose of what I wrote was to make people who don’t often realize it more aware that there are (at least semi-)smart types working for the Republicans.

    I barely ever even think of Evil Nerds except for when I’m thinking about the fact that some people unrealistically believe the Repubs have no brains working in their propaganda or strategy outfits.

14. Richard Steven Hack Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 12:40 am

    Couldn’t tell from your comment. And I don’t think anybody ever said Karl Rove was an idiot – just an asshole.

    I think if there was a headcount, you’d find more nerds on the Dems – or libertarian – side than on the Republican or conservative side. And libertarians are NOT conservatives (unless you count the “paleos”), despite Matt’s delusions.

15. matthew Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 9:44 am

    Not to sound like I’m defending Goldfarb, but…uh…what “terms” exactly show that he’s displaying familiarity with the game? Saying people are in their mothers’ basements is used more an indictment of geeks/nerds in general (read FireJoeMorgan.com if you want a sense of how often it’s deployed towards bloggers), and there’s not much else to his quote that looks like it could’ve stemmed from someone who’d played the game…

16. Michael Foody Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 11:01 am

    Obama might have an 18 in charisma but he lacks the bonus wisdom bonus that comes from being venerable age.

17. viagra Says:
    March 1st, 2009 at 8:33 am

    viagra
    If you have to do it, you might as well do it right

18. cialis Says:
    March 1st, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    cialis
    It is the coolest site,keep so!

19. levitra Says:
    March 2nd, 2009 at 7:41 am

    levitraI want to say – thank you for this!

20. tramadol Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 3:00 am

    I bookmarked this site. Thank you for good job!
    tramadol

21. tramadol Says:
    March 22nd, 2009 at 7:05 am

    tramadol
    Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.

22. buy viagra online Says:
    March 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 am

    buy viagra online
    Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!

23. brand viagra Says:
    April 2nd, 2009 at 7:36 am

    Great site. Good info
    buy cheap viagra

24. viagra brand Says:
    April 3rd, 2009 at 5:13 am

    Great site. Good info
    cheap brand pfizer viagra