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American Needs Its Nerds Summary

Decent Essays

It appears that in today’s society, intellectual beings, or “geeks” and “nerds” as they’re often referred to, are being pressured in everyday life events because they don’t quite seem to “fit in” even though they are the backbone of America’s economical and technological advances. Although these “nerds” play an important role in keeping America ahead in the scholarly and technological world, they’re rarely ever praised, for instead, they are bashed and labeled with derogatory terms for being too much of a “geek.” As for Leonid Fridman, he addresses America’s behavior towards “nerds” in his essay, “American Needs Its Nerds,” by using irony and antitheses to draw attention to anti-intellectualism values in America and uncover how society is stepping down on its “geeks” and “nerds.” Throughout the essay, Leonid Fridman establishes a sense of irony towards anti-intellectualism in an …show more content…

Towards the end of his third paragraph, Fridman delivers a short statement, “Nerds are ostracized while athletes are idolized,” that strongly projects America’s anti-intellectual values. While “nerds” and “athletes” are two obvious, contrasting beings, the antitheses reflected with the isolation of “nerds” and the praising of athletes heavily pushes the notion that “nerds” are being thrown out of a society that only appears to incorporate anti-intellectual values and undervalues scholars. In Fridman’s eighth paragraph, he illustrates how ballplayers, or athletes, are “much more respected and better paid” than the professors of the most reputable universities. Like before, he displays the divergent individuals with conflicting facts, income and respect in this case, that oppose intellectualism and promote anything but intelligence. Fridman’s use of antithesis deepens the questioning and challenge to overcome anti-intellectualism standards in American

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