Revenge of the nerds
Tammy Swofford
If there is a film which accurately depicts what has just occurred in Americas political life, it is the 1984 comedy classic Revenge of the Nerds. To set the stage for my thoughts, let me bring readers up to speed on the basic plot.
Two loyal friends, nerds to the point of ridiculous, enrol at (fictional) Adams College to study computer science. They are housed in the freshman dorm with the Alpha Beta, a fraternity populated with football players of below average intelligence. One rather dense student manages to burn down the frat house. Fire and alcohol are never companionable. Suffering a bit from Dunning-Kruger syndrome, the leaders of Alpha Beta deny fraternity membership to the deserving pledges (Lewis Skolnick and Gilbert Lowe).
This established natural order of treating outsiders with disrespect finally comes to a head. The nerds set out bent on revenge. They report their grievances to the campus police. Unfortunately, the police are bound by the rules of the Greek Council. The nerds are denied adjudication of their misfortunes and realise the only way to effectively confront inaction and callous disregard is to gain a charter for national membership of a new fraternity. Scandalous schemes ensue. But by the end of the film, it can be easy to fall in love with the nerds.
Art mimics life. And in this case, Washington has been accosted by tens of millions of voters named Skolnick and Lowe. We have dealt with the Washington fraternity. Our time is now, and it is the revenge of the nerds!
Hillary Clinton regrets one thing. It is not the discovery of official emails on an unsecured server. It is not Benghazi. FBI Director Comey was not the cause of her downfall. She regrets the day she drew back her shoulders in sorority sister manner and declared that fifty percent of Trump supporters belong in a basket of deplorable. Mrs Clinton forgot her lip zipper. She became an Alpha Beta. Her words created national wounding and wounded animals always howl. The excoriated barked loudly, and we hatched our plans.
In a glorious manner, the mighty-but-fallen inadvertently aided capitalism. Americans are entrepreneurial in spirit, and Mrs Clinton gave birth to a niche industry. Washington D.C. hosted not one, not two, but a triad of Deplorable Inaugural Balls. The hotel industry is certainly happy about this fortunate turn of events. The nerds can dress up like the Washington elite and raise a glass of cheer. The hotels gain a bit of pocket change.
Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Another group of nerds descended upon the Capitol for the festivities. A well-known Christian PAC hosted the Faith, Freedom and Future Inaugural Ball. A mega church minister from my region was in attendance. Checking out his Facebook and Twitter feeds show image after image. Look at me! Here I am with Donald J. Trump, Jr. Look at me! Here I am with my good buddy Eric! Look at me! Here I am with... Trotting over to Donald Jr. and Erics Twitter feeds I noted in a somewhat satisfactory manner that neither of Trumps sons had posted Look at me photos with the pastor in question. One other thing bothered me on a small scale. One image showed a minister praying over Mike Pence. Faith is not the overlord of governance nor should it ever become the norm. Everyone should pray FOR our elected officials. But in the ranking system of governance, we are the clay feet and not the head and shoulders. We are always beneath and never the command centre.
The writer is a freelance journalis
