Geek history
Are nerds born or are they made? Now that geeks rule tech companies, lead billionaire lists, and are the auteurs, subjects and stars of Judd Apatow movies, has it become cool to be a nerd? Even people who must’ve been popular in high school now claim that they were nerds. If everyone was a teenage outcast, then who cast them out?
I do not like these belated claims of membership in the tribe.
Here’s an interview with Benjamin Nugent, author of American Nerd.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
May 21st, 2008 at 18:10
Now I want to read this. Because my family can’t understand why, as socially adept they are in spite of some traces of nerd-dom (I love reading, Star Wars and Indy because of them), I can’t interact with people as smoothly as they do.
I’m pretty much annoyed by people in my university nowadays who’d proclaim, “OMG, I was such a nerd in high school,” when they clearly exude the vibe of popularity – the “everybody-chose-me-to-be-a-delegate-in-quiz-bees-and-they’re-so-happy-for-me” kind of popular, who hung around as a token member of the athletic/pretty/rich popular kids. Smart? Maybe. Nerd? No.
Hmpf. Being a nerd sometimes comes with bitterness (“You dare laugh at me when I explain aloud the character development of Anakin Skywalker?!?! Someday I’ll rule the world, and by my lightsaber you will DIE!!!”). But then I have an ultimate nerd for a brother, who has his whole class for his barkada (well, they are composed of 15 kids, and who’d build his own clique with that?).
May 21st, 2008 at 19:57
Cool? I think it’s hot to be a nerd these days.
May 21st, 2008 at 23:40
If you believe Simon Cowell, the Nerd du jour just drubbed The Cool One’s arse. Chalk up another victory for the species in the battle for world domination.
May 22nd, 2008 at 00:25
Those D-bags from the A-list don’t have the war wounds to prove that they’re geeks/nerds/etc–physical or psychological. They don’t have any stories that involve being bullied or ridiculed at for looking and acting differently than everyone else during those awkward years. It’s about taking your lumps from the cool kids for hoarding comic books before polybagging was a huge commercial enterprise. It’s about rocking out to The Vaselines’ Molly’s Lips while some other meathead thinks that it’s a great Nirvana song and getting crap for it, calling the music “gay” while they prattle on about the genius of Poison’s songs. It’s about keeping company with a great group of people who aren’t exactly clued-in with the latest shoes or trousers and sticking up for them when they get picked on. Those superficial a-holes don’t have the slightest idea about those experiences when they co-opt that merit badge of geekdom.
May 22nd, 2008 at 05:52
Nerddom is only uncool in highschool, thus the reluctance of many people to indulge in it back then…
Now, away from bullies and PE teachers, these same people who are now multi-digit salaried professionals have the social and economic freedom to practice whatever lifestyle they want and the masses can’t say much about it anymore because they’re afraid of being fired by the people they used to ostracize. Quite remember practicing on uttering a line that goes “Who’s the member of an underprivileged sector of the community now, huh, biatch?” Yeah, used to be one of those poorer nerds who got bullied by children of doctors, and lawyers, and newscasters and never had enough dough to hang out in clubs and take out the girls and such.
And I think a good nerd indicator would be asking the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow. If the person in question replies in a particular question, you got yourself a winner.
May 22nd, 2008 at 13:26
Hmm…Pre-conceived notions of nerds are boring, like autistic masquerading as a normal functioning human being. I mean, could you imagine a nerd being so talkative, would carry a very interesting conversation, or at least, would start it? Or say, to be a good kisser or to be hot in bed? (Highschool stuff, i believe)
Their quietness annoys the loud ones…and “stronger” ones like to shut the nerds up before they get challenged.
But to be a nerd is awesome. Speaking of creating your whole world, they know it. And its cool to be in theirs. Awesome, really!
May 22nd, 2008 at 14:19
To capitanmontressor:
I’m actually tempted to answer that. Although I must admit that I only saw “Holy Grail” in college, when they already had bootlegs in Quiapo. :P
I think it’s more depressing to be a nerd in the provinces back then, than to be a nerd in the city, so we thank the nerds who concocted the Internet. Sure, we’re middle-class beings with a vehicle, living in a second-grade suburb, but we’re still in the provinces. Minsan wala pa ngang cable TV.
I mean, it’s the 90’s, and you’re a 14 year-old nerd living in, say, Cabuyao, Laguna. You are the only nerd in the class. Where was the nearest Neutral Grounds or decent comic book store? If not for the internet, where else can we find a copy of “Flying Circus?” National Bookstore in Alabang (nearest place with a decent mall) did not even stock Tolkien’s classics. University towns (UP and such) are far away, plus nerds are awkward around people. You can only go to conventions, tourneys, and meet-ups if your parents would go with you (they usually won’t, because they think you’re unstable). We couldn’t interact well in school, so how can we interact with people in other schools, and find other nerds there? Where can you geek out and escape from whatever teen crap the popular guys watch/imitate with everybody?
(Salvation came in forms, though: second-hand books and magazines from Book Sale, copies of “Star Wars” and sci-fi re-releases in video rentals, and a nerdy sibling/friend/cousin who goes once in a while to the metropolis to buy and lend you stuff, and tell you stories. There are some brave souls who ventured out in the world though, but they are rare.)
May 23rd, 2008 at 14:26
I never really understood the Holy Hand Grenade reference when I was playing Worms Armageddon until I saw Monty Python’s Holy Grail a few years ago.
I’m a geek living in the province. Having a different outlook, interests, and way of thinking than my peers was easily addressed. All I did was first observe what they like and behave and just mimic what a typical kid my age was “supposed” to be like. I ended up maintaining a facade all through college though. I also found it easier to just ignore the distorted facts my classmates crammed up on the things I genuinely was passionate about rather than take the time to correct them. (They actually thought Superman was better than Batman based only on their exposure to the campy tv show and the wierd burton flicks and the carnival-like Schumacher ones)
I didn’t have the money to support my geeky vices, but I just addressed this by hanging around comic book stores and pestering cousins/uncles/friends in borrowing their comics, NES, and VHS tapes.
Nowadays, when you can just download anything from the internet, geeks are better equipped to pursue their passions.
Sports fans are geeks. Musicians are geeks. Serious Jocks are geeks. They just got lucky with their chosen passions. :)
Cheers.