2012 Lessons Learned:The Negative

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Alex2614

I understand that. What I'm saying is that the entire year last year they kept saying "FIRST kids aren't geeks." Stuff like that. They kept trying to change the image of who we are. In the words of Dave Lavery, "I'm a geek and I'm $@#$@#$@#$@# proud of it." THAT'S who FIRST is. Promote our image and who we are, don't change it to appeal to the rest of the world. That may not have been what their intentions were, but that's how it came across to a lot of people.

Since when was the FIRST image intrinsically tied into "nerd pride"? If being a part of FIRST means that you have to be a nerd and proud of it, clearly I'm in the wrong program and need to find somewhere else to go. Being a geek and proud may be part of who you are, and that's more than fine, but it's certainly not a part of who I am and who many others are in this program.

Painting with broad brush strokes almost always results in an ugly picture.