Gizmodo blogger goes all "mean girl" on MtG world champ and the internet EXPLODES WITH RAGE

[Colour Scientist]

Wait... so people are saying she's shallow because she wouldn't go out with him because, while rich and attractive, she doesn't have much in common with him?


I think I have a different understanding of the word shallow.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Geek dates blogger, blogger blogs about it, internet rages.

She hardly says anything half as scathing as the people who knee jerked to her recap of her two dates. Plus, tickets for a one-man show based on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer?s life story... what a shit first date. The Magic Geek has no game! Being obsessed with a card game is plenty of reason to not date someone. As she mentioned, she wouldn't have even bothered had he been upfront on his profile about this 'important' part of his life.

Its not the issue that she didn't like him becuase of MtG it's that she slagged him off publicly for it. Anyone else would just say 'Ah well that didn't work out' Not go and destroy their character online.

Doesn't she have any manners or grace at all? She isn't a lady that's for sure.

I agree with you for the most.. AAARRRGG! New Avatar! Nice! Anyways... I was under the impression she mentioned what she does in her profile. Of course a blogger would blog about this stuff. I didn't find what she said to be that offensive, but it doesn't really matter, the fact that HE found it offensive is what matters. What I don't like is how evil the internet is raging over this. Compared to what she said, the internet is pure evil, while she is only a lesser demon, or tax collector. I don't think she destroyed his character, she just let people know her own short sightedness.

EDIT: The fact that she did list his real name in the unedited original blog is really, REALLY low rent on her part. But what she said isn't half as bad as a lot of peoples response to her.

If this has something to do with his hobby, I think it's becuase most of us are sick of being negatively judged for hobbies like gaming or card games.

The fact is that such things started in the 80's and now people who enjoyed them are older, they are more mainstream. They negative view of society hasn't caught up. She clearly has NO idea what Mtg is like and most people who view games negatively think they are very basic things for children.

It's a viewpoint that is getting kind of tiring when 'geeky' pasttimes are some of the biggest entertainments industries in the world and yet we aren't supposed to like it, It's ridiculous.

If he told her he vegged out in front of the tv for a bit every night she would consider him 'normal' and yet that is much less social and mentally taxing than playign MtG at that level.

As for criticising her she put her negative diatribe about someone online and expected us all to laugh with her toxic garbage. She deserves to be reprimanded, John Finkel doesn't.

I'd tap that...

*BA DUM TISH!"

I lolled IRL!

 

[CleverCover]

But...he's like super cute. OMG.

If she really would drop him for a card game, I mean, he most likely does have other interests, then she's completely horrible. All her friends should be smacking her upside the head for that one.

Very few things are worth what she did to him and I doubt he did anything on the list.

I would also like to see what he was looking for in her. Whyyy?

 

[erto101]

*snip*

What happens then?

Well Adam Jensen is the main character of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. In the year 2027 he gets fucked up in an attack on the company he works for, and basically they make him a badass cyborg with all sorts of crazy upgrades.

He's the guy on the left. [http://www.selectbutton.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/5513DXHR_screenshot_takedown2.jpg]

Unless someone's lucky enough to have that as their actual name, I guess they did it as a joke and I was just playing on that

Jensen is a fairly common name in Denmark 275113 people are called Jensen. It means "son of Jens". 52 people in Denmark are called Adam Jensen ^^.

 

[DrgoFx]

Wait... so people are saying she's shallow because she wouldn't go out with him because, while rich and attractive, she doesn't have much in common with him?


I think I have a different understanding of the word shallow.

The fact of the matter isn't that she's not interested in something he's interested in, but publicly mocks him for it on the interwebs. But as someone already pointed out, the more hits she gets, the more money she makes. Greedy money hungry pigs women are. At least those that write articles. My woman insists we split the bill for anything.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Greedy money hungry pigs women are. At least those that write articles.

Seriously? I don't even have a coherent response to this, my mind boggles.

I'm searching for words but they're mostly four letters long and not to be spoken around children.

 

[4173]

Wait... so people are saying she's shallow because she wouldn't go out with him because, while rich and attractive, she doesn't have much in common with him?


I think I have a different understanding of the word shallow.

No. The point of mentioning rich and attractive is that they are in direct contrast to negative nerd stereotypes (500 lbs., mother's basement etc.). So the problem lies in BEING nerdy, not in any particular consequence or result of being nerdy.

His worth as a date wasn't diminished because he had a hobby she didn't share, but because the hobby is inherently objectionable. And SO objectionable, that it outweighs other, positive surface traits like attractiveness or wealth. In fact, it is SOOOOO objectionable, he deserves to be publicly shamed.


I wonder if maybe she wants him to wear a big, scarlet N on his clothes.

 

[trollnystan]

If I was on a blind date and the guy dropped that he was MtG World Champ... I might just skip the dinner part and move right to the dessert hahaha. Look how cute!:

Spoiler: less than three

He is kinda cute! Never played MtG but he could teach me =3

He can do WAAAAAY better than her in any case.

 

[JochemDude]

I would like to recite rule 19 here 'The more you hate it, the stronger it gets.' If we would just all have ignored her no one would ever have to hear her bullshit. But no 'the internet EXPLODES WITH RAGE'.

 

[Colour Scientist]

No. The point of mentioning rich and attractive is that they are in direct contrast to negative nerd stereotypes (500 lbs., mother's basement etc.). So the problem lies in BEING nerdy, not in any particular consequence or result of being nerdy.

His worth as a date wasn't diminished because he had a hobby she didn't share, but because the hobby is inherently objectionable. And SO objectionable, that it outweighs other, positive surface traits like attractiveness or wealth. In fact, it is SOOOOO objectionable, he deserves to be publicly shamed.


I wonder if maybe she wants him to wear a big, scarlet N on his clothes.

When you're world champion it's a bit more than a casual hobby, to be fair. I probably wouldn't go for someone who was ridiculously into sport. She said he brought her to a one man show about the Black Dahlia, which isn't a good first date choice and people have snubbed dates over less.

 

[Ghengis John]

This is possibly the best thing to come out of any of this:

Its not the issue that she didn't like him becuase of MtG it's that she slagged him off publicly for it. Anyone else would just say 'Ah well that didn't work out' Not go and destroy their character online.

Doesn't she have any manners or grace at all? She isn't a lady that's for sure.

As usual, thankyou, well said. If she's catching any flack for it it's because she decided to be needlessly cruel.

 

[Dags90]

He's probably genre savvy. Honestly, he's probably used to that sort of knee-jerk reaction about his playing of Magic: The Gathering.

Disinterest? It mostly sounds like she just doesn't have an interest in it, she mentions it being geeky earlier on as a side note. She even says she felt bad that they're on a date together when she feels they're incompatible.

Some of this responses in this thread have me thinking I read the wrong link though. People are - seemingly without irony - calling this woman "cruel" and other, nastier things.

I hope all the replies calling her a horrible person for trashing on part of "nerd culture" have never trashed part of "bro culture" or anything like that. I doubt it though.

 

[4173]

No. The point of mentioning rich and attractive is that they are in direct contrast to negative nerd stereotypes (500 lbs., mother's basement etc.). So the problem lies in BEING nerdy, not in any particular consequence or result of being nerdy.

His worth as a date wasn't diminished because he had a hobby she didn't share, but because the hobby is inherently objectionable. And SO objectionable, that it outweighs other, positive surface traits like attractiveness or wealth. In fact, it is SOOOOO objectionable, he deserves to be publicly shamed.


I wonder if maybe she wants him to wear a big, scarlet N on his clothes.

When you're world champion it's a bit more than a casual hobby, to be fair. I probably wouldn't go for someone who was ridiculously into sport. She said he brought her to a one man show about the Black Dahlia, which isn't a good first date choice and people have snubbed dates over less.

He hasn't been reigning World Champion for a decade, and at the time playing was at least partly a job as well. I don't want to be more specific than that, because I just don't know, nor do I know how his current involvement compares to before.

Regardless, if she has any reason besides prejudice to think playing would preclude him being able to participate in a relationship, she doesn't include or even hint at it in the article. She went to all this trouble to make fun of him, I'd think she would want to include how much nerdy time the nerd spends being nerdy.

And again, since he showed up fit, groomed and employed, that all points to some ability to balance card games and other responsibilities and aspects of life.


I agree, that does seem a peculiar choice for a first date, but it is seemingly unrelated to being MtG world champion. And it barely rates a mention in the article.


[sarcasm on] My blind date might be a serial killer, but the deal-breaker is he was World Champion of a nerdy card game. [/sarcasm off]

 

[Valdus]

What a shallow *****. While I don't exactly walk around with a geek tag on, I'll happily tell anyone that I play Magic the Gathering, D'n'D, other fantasy games etc. It really pisses me off that someone like me is automatically marked by some people as some moron with no life who obsesses over some of his/her hobbies.

She deserves the flak. Why should she have any right to assume she's better than someone just because of a hobby?

 

[4173]

He's probably genre savvy. Honestly, he's probably used to that sort of knee-jerk reaction about his playing of Magic: The Gathering.

Disinterest? It mostly sounds like she just doesn't have an interest in it, she mentions it being geeky earlier on as a side note. She even says she felt bad that they're on a date together when she feels they're incompatible.

Some of this responses in this thread have me thinking I read the wrong link though. People are - seemingly without irony - calling this woman "cruel" and other, nastier things.

I hope all the replies calling her a horrible person for trashing on part of "nerd culture" have never trashed part of "bro culture" or anything like that. I doubt it though.

She is incredibly interested in it. She asks him questions about it, wants to know more about how it relates to his life. And then decides that's all he cares about. Big surprise. And as far as the article goes, she never even asked him the questions that seem to matter -- how much time do you currently spend on it, and would you alter your habits in a relationship!

From the very instant he mentions he was a world champion she flat out says she started judging him, based on her limited knowledge of Magic.

Maybe she is just a terrible writer, but she doesn't elaborate at all on HOW being world champion was bad. She says they talked about college, work and family, but after that she doesn't indicate she even tried to see if they had any shared interests. Same goes for his friends; he met them playing magic, so that must be the only thing they ever do together.

Maybe she has all this information, but if that is the case, put some in your fucking article and you won't look mean and/or incompetent.

And as an aside, she's surprised a fucking hedge fund manager has a nerdy side?

 

[Jake Martinez]

Jon is currently doing an IAM over at Reddit -
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/jz3u7/iama_jon_finkel_ask_me_anything/

Here is basically what he has to say,

"Look I think it's kind of uncool to do what she did. I dont really want my personal life out in public, and I think theres a sort of general understanding that you don't blog about someone you went out with using their real name in an attempt to denigrate them, especially if they weren't an asshole.

That said I dont think these thoughts were necessarily going through her head, and it seems like enough people are giving her a hard time without me. I dont think this invalidates her as a human being or anything."

Frankly, I think he's being very charitable about the whole thing. Also, he is answering alot of inane MtG questions for fans.

 

[DrgoFx]

Greedy money hungry pigs women are. At least those that write articles.

Seriously? I don't even have a coherent response to this, my mind boggles.

I'm searching for words but they're mostly four letters long and not to be spoken around children.

I am terribly sorry, I don't know which part you are agree about. So allow me to explain my meaning: Journalism is all about money. End of discussion. The fact of the matter is that the more hits a website gets, the more advertisements are loaded on people's screens, the more those advertisers pay the website owners, the more money they get.

The fact that a woman insulted a man for his love of something nerdy in an article that was then posted on a site that is for people with a somewhat nerdy background means that a lot of people will be pissed and will want to read it so they can personally despise her for their own reasons. In the process of this, the above formula takes place.