Lèse-Majesté

One of the ways hunter-gatherers and the rest of us keep the our fellows from becoming too conceited is by making fun of them. It can be thought of as a way to maintain an egalitarian society. One form that takes in modern society is picking on the smart kids in school. Of course picking on the mighty, lèse-majesté if you please, is anathema in a hierarchical society and punished severely.

One way to think of The Big Bang Theory television show is that it's about making fun of the smart kids - a milder form of pantsing them in the school hallway. A show about four relentlessly superior individuals, handsome, socially adept, athletic geniuses would be relentlessly boring, so all the characters are seriously flawed. The redeeming quality of the show is that they are human - likeable and sympathetic.

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