I've been a fan of Jeopardy since I was a teenager, and in recent years I've been watching it almost every night. I really appreciate that there are still shows that encourage and reward learning and intellectual curiosity. I don't think I'd do too well on the show if I ever had the chance, but it's fun to watch the show and see how many questions I can get right.
And it's such a shame to see one of the shows most associated with intelligence lean fully into gender woo over the past year.
Last week they began the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions, where Ken Jennings proudly introduced contestant Rowan Ward (formerly Nicolle Neulist) as the show's first openly non-binary contestant. Rowan is a woman who changed her name, and Ken referred to her as a "they" repeatedly.
A couple of days ago they had an exhibition match of the three contestants with very long winning streaks this season - Matt Amodio, Mr. Amy Schneider, and Mattea Roach.
Amy, a man, is recognized as the most successful female contestant in Jeopardy history.
Mattea, the actual most successful female contest, has recently stopped identifying as a woman. Ken referred to her as "they" a couple of times. Despite having 23 wins to Matt's 38 and Amy's 40, Mattea defeated them both in the exhibition. (All three players weren't taking it too seriously, making a lot of wrong guesses when they weren't sure, since no real money was at risk.)
It's just an embarrassment for Jeopardy to have the host refer to a man as "she" and a woman as "they" repeatedly through the game. I never thought I'd see the day when it embraced a misogynist science-denying false ideology like this.
Yes, it's "associated with intelligence" but memorizing random facts is not actually intelligence.
A lot of autistic people memorize random facts easily but struggle with higher level thinking. Many autistic people also fully buy into gender ideology (for the same reason). So it's not terribly surprising that Jeopardy would buy into the gender woo.
Being successful at jeopardy also requires lots of time to waste memorizing those facts. Men always are enabled to waste more time. It’s a huge component of misogyny.
Let’s see how this phrasing takes. Last time I tried to express this wrt chess (which is a similar activity in terms of you need to sink tons of time in to become competitive), women were after me saying some women like to spend lots of time on chess, too. Which, good for you if you can, genuinely. I can too if I want. Most women don’t have that choice.
I don't buy into the idea of "higher level thinking." I've never seen so many life-denying morons amongst the "highly civilized." Can't think their way out of a wet paper bag. There are many different kinds of thinking; some people are better at one kind, some people are better at another. If your thinking suits your life situation then people may see you as intelligent. If you're a psychological fish out of water then you're going to have problems. And for most of human history we actually had a use for memorizing things. It was what we had before we had books and writing.
Another lesbian succumbing to the homophobia of QT. Such a loss.
But another win for my confirmation bias that septum piercings have become emblematic of gender woo.
Hey! I've had one for years!🙁
I’m sorry. I’m kinda bummed about it because, in the 90s, it was a signifier of a much different and cooler counterculture. Although, as an Ovarette, you are still part of a much different and cooler counterculture.
Full disclosure, it's been grown in for at least a decade. Had to take the ring out for work and, even though it was years old, it still closed up on me. (Blech! Now all I can think about is TIMs dilating. Aaaaaaahhhhh!)
I always assume a person with a septum piercing identifies as a farm animal.
Hahaha! That's why I got one, sort of. When I was very small, my dad would sometimes recite the Owl and the Pussycat to me and I was just fascinated by the pig with the pretty gold ring in his nose, "and there in the wood, a piggy-wig stood, with a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose. With a ring at the end of his nose." I also had a little plastic bull that I called Ferdinand, after the story, that had one, plus a book about a Genie who had one, too. All these characters were kind, wise, unique and strong, so that association was there for me and I literally (haha) wanted one since childhood.
I stopped watching after "Amy".
I lost interest during the revolving door of guest hosts . Most of the guest hosts sucked (and I don't even know who was selected to officially replace Alex Trebeck). I know it's unfair to expect anyone to match Trebeck's charm. But I just don't think the show has the same spark without him. And the embrace of gender bullshit certainly doesn't help.
Jeopardy's executive producer Mike Richards was in charge of making the decision of who should replace Trebek, and he chose himself. He had previously been turned down to replace Bob Barker on Price Is Right, and had always wanted to host a show himself.
He was reasonably good at it, but after a week all kinds of things from his past came to light. He was on some 2014 podcasts where he made all kinds of sexist jokes, mocked Jewish and Asian people, and a general assortment of dudebro behavior that stopped being tolerated long before 2014.
CBS quickly fired him as both host and producer. Jeopardy fans were split between Ken Jennings and guest host Mayim Bialik, and CBS decided to hire both. Ken hosts the regular nightly Jeopardy shows, and Mayim hosts the tournaments and celebrity competitions. Ken also co-hosts another game show, so Mayim filled in on weeks where Ken was busy.
They both are likeable and do a great job, but I definitely prefer Mayim just because Ken's voice is a little soft and unclear, and just isn't the best for reading trivia questions. Mayim's voice is easier to listen to, but neither compare to Alex Trebek.
I literally can't watch when 'Amy' is on, the cringe overtakes me.
He showed off his tattoo in his most recent tournament game. Sort of gives another meaning to "womanface".
Honestly it's not too bad as far as tattoos go, but it makes me react a little differently when it's a TIM wearing an image of a woman.
Mattea is now NB?? What a mess.
I like Ken (I fondly remember watching his original run) and was glad he got the hosting gig, but his overenthusiastic embrace of TRA dogma is hard to swallow.
What a disappointment.
I miss Alex.
I miss Alex, too. 😥
And I can't help wondering if Ken Jennings actually supports this bullshit or if he's just going along with it because he's told its the kind thing to do (and that he'll be blacklisted from all his TV gigs if he doesn't play along with the pronouns)
Unfortunately he's at least a mild supporter, and has called people transphobic for rejecting gender ideology.
Mayim is an outright handmaiden, advocating for men in women's sports and calling it "hate" to support women's rights. I wasn't aware of this until just now... ugh. I wonder how Alex would have handled this nonsense.
“Disappointing” is really the perfect word for this. This sucks. It used to be such a smart & cool show.
Mattea expressed typical feminine dress and mannerisms tbh... what makes her think she's not a woman anymore? It's not like she's breaking stereotypes outside of being lesbian so I'm not sure what these mystical feelings are supposed to be...
What a farce.