I haven't done a Pet Peeve Post in a couple of years.
I not bothered by much, but SOMEtimes certain things begin to niggle at me and after a while I just can't sit on it any more.
Today's Pet Peeve is about all the eccentric, insufferable, and/or socially inept geniuses that pervade TV.
I think it's horrible and demeaning to portray smart people in a way that makes it seem as though it is their genius that causes them to be terribly flawed.
This kind of stereotyping is bad for kids who watch this stuff. It perpetuates the idea that if you are smart you will be teased or bullied, that you will NOT be cool, that you will be disliked, misunderstood, isolated and certainly never date or have "normal" human relationships. What kid in his/her right mind would want to flaunt or pursue being smart?
Here are just a few shows that depict/have depicted dysfunctional geniuses. Some of them I actually enjoy(ed).
outcast geniuses one and all
Again, outcast geniuses one and all, particularly Sheldon.
And by the way I love this show.
Having grown up with a bonafide genius (my father) the portrayal of smart people being somewhat idiot savant-like (REALLY smart at one thing but mentally challenged in everything else) is starting to be offensive.
Besides my father, I've known many really, really smart people in my life, including Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, and not one of them was an insufferable, socially dysfunctional human being.
What shows would you add to this list? Are you getting tired of the dysfunctional genius trope too?
