watching battlebots just makes me sad.
i don’t how to express it–
as one of my friends put it, he got into battlebots and decided to become an engineer because he watched battlebots 10 years ago. now battlebots is on the TV again, inspiring more young boys to become engineers.
people participating in battles are overwhelmingly male-dominated. it’s all about competition and destruction.
robotics to me is something that brings me joy, and happiness, and a feeling that i am competent and skillful, a medium for me to express my creative muse.
i want everyone to enjoy building robots. but where’s the TV show that exposes the funny robots, the creative robots, the helping robots and wondrous robots that people build?
where’s the show that will get more girls interested in robotics than boys?
i am sad because i see a future ahead of me where i am always abnormal.
sure, i can be dedicated to my craft and ignore all this and just be badass and build robots so amazing that i inspire all the girls to be roboticists without even having to pay attention to these issues. that’s probably the only way to do it, to have a single-minded dedications and hone my skills in robotics until i’m near or at the top of the field. that’s how all the people interviewed on MAKERS Women in Space seem to have done it. but some part me is just —
watching battlebots — i should enjoy it, because my friends participate in it and find a lot of joy in it. but where are the grassroots competitions and friends for me to enjoy making dancing and drawing robots and educational robots with?
for whatever reason;
watching battlebots just makes me incredibly sad.
If television had a mantra, it would simply be, “generate more ad revenue.” But this sadness at the happiness and joy of others? Are you mental? What social norm are we upset about? That boys will gather in numbers to watch robots kick the rears out of each other? That girls won’t participate in these events because that somehow doesn’t fit in with gender roles they ought hold? Let’s not waste more than 10 minutes reflecting on these circumstances. Instead, glorify that robot with the pink bow that smashes all other bots in such competitions. I don’t think such events will be exclusive to females.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JulioBFigueroa/photos/photo/5975495330624967282?pid=5975495330624967282&oid=108423272635411206525
Engineering is an art, but to many it is only the iron man suit and portal devices that they’ve come to associate with it. To the masses, they’re consumers, and television will give them what they want to consume. Remember Bob Ross? Maybe – but we are not the masses. We will always be abnormal.