life, liberty, and the pursuit of geekdom
there are many geeks out there, and many groups of geeks who feel a sense of entitlement. these folk think that one type of geekiness is superior to another type. hence why all the "how geek are you?" quizzes are TOTALLY BIASED toward science/rp-ing/computer geeks. no love for all of the other geeks out there. and trust me, I know 'em all.
band geeks. flute geeks. piano geeks. percussion geeks. russian composer (stravinsky/prokofiev/shostakovich) geeks. film geeks. the man I love is a prime specimen of that sort. computer geeks. pop music geeks. indie rock geeks. literature geeks. grammar geeks. pop culture geeks. video game geeks. star wars geeks. sorority geeks (they exist!) harry potter geeks. health geeks. science geeks. history geeks. math geeks. disney geeks. many of you reading this ARE SUCH GEEKS. you name 'em. I've met 'em. well, maybe not so many as The Queen of the Nerds herself (no, I'm not talking about Mrs. Tappan or Tori Amos, I'm talking about the esteemed Katty Setzer, aka karmia), but I've met quite a few in my time. I tend to seek them out.
what I've noticed is that some geeks feel that they have the right to proclaim the entity that is geekdom for themselves. and that they have the right to be assholes about it. like the pricks at MegaCon who screamed out at girls who were not overweight at all, "you're fat!" fuckers.
some geeks feel that they are more 1337 than others. this, my friends, is not true. geek is just another word for passionate.
John and I have had this discussion many times over. being is geek is not so much all about what you geek over - it's the simple fact that you are one. that you are passionate, often to the point of social ostracization as a result. that often your personal relationships go sour because your friends and loved ones feel neglected in comparison to the object of your geekdom. that you can often only find kinship in others who share your obsession. that sometimes you go without showering for several days simply because you've forgotten to as a result of geeking out over the object of your geekdom. that others look at you as weird, or just not normal, because they don't understand the passion that you have. they don't share your passion, and so they think that this in some way makes you abnormal. but, o my brothers, you most certainly are abnormal - abnormal in a sort of superhuman way.
and it's this amazing bond that geeks share. it's this sense of unity, this sense of camraderie, this sense of comfort, knowing that there are others out there, willing to sacrafice time, money, and effort in order to achieve not fiscal success nor power nor admiration, but rather the pinnacle geekdom in some respective field.
what's sad is that geeks are taught to work against each other, rather than bond together. think about it - if all the geeks in the world united into one great uprising, the combined passion and power of the worldwide geek community would overthrow the known world. it really would. but instead, the world of geeks has been divided and shattered, and geeks have been taught to ostracize each other.
maybe part of geekdom is an innate attitude that your specific field of geekdom is superior to another. if you didn't think that your concentration of geekdom was better than any other, why would you be such a geek for it? sure, geeks have pride in their respective geek fields, but we must not let geek pride stand in the way of geek unity.
think about it. all you geeks out there, at one time or another, you know you've made fun of sports geeks, poetry geeks, calculus geeks, and the list goes on. while you can't take back things that you may have said, you can always look foward, and try to stir up a conversation with a geek of another interest. trust me, having an inter-geek relationship can expand your universe beyond what you may have thought possible. do you even know what kind of new horizons can be achieved when a film geek and a band geek collide? and maybe one day produce offspring? imagine the possibilities! possible complete destruction of the known universe!!!
so think about it. and try not to limit yourself to fraternization amongst only one type of geek. I've been down that road, and it gets pretty boring sometimes. life is just more wonderful the more geeks you have in it.
band geeks. flute geeks. piano geeks. percussion geeks. russian composer (stravinsky/prokofiev/shostakovich) geeks. film geeks. the man I love is a prime specimen of that sort. computer geeks. pop music geeks. indie rock geeks. literature geeks. grammar geeks. pop culture geeks. video game geeks. star wars geeks. sorority geeks (they exist!) harry potter geeks. health geeks. science geeks. history geeks. math geeks. disney geeks. many of you reading this ARE SUCH GEEKS. you name 'em. I've met 'em. well, maybe not so many as The Queen of the Nerds herself (no, I'm not talking about Mrs. Tappan or Tori Amos, I'm talking about the esteemed Katty Setzer, aka karmia), but I've met quite a few in my time. I tend to seek them out.
what I've noticed is that some geeks feel that they have the right to proclaim the entity that is geekdom for themselves. and that they have the right to be assholes about it. like the pricks at MegaCon who screamed out at girls who were not overweight at all, "you're fat!" fuckers.
some geeks feel that they are more 1337 than others. this, my friends, is not true. geek is just another word for passionate.
John and I have had this discussion many times over. being is geek is not so much all about what you geek over - it's the simple fact that you are one. that you are passionate, often to the point of social ostracization as a result. that often your personal relationships go sour because your friends and loved ones feel neglected in comparison to the object of your geekdom. that you can often only find kinship in others who share your obsession. that sometimes you go without showering for several days simply because you've forgotten to as a result of geeking out over the object of your geekdom. that others look at you as weird, or just not normal, because they don't understand the passion that you have. they don't share your passion, and so they think that this in some way makes you abnormal. but, o my brothers, you most certainly are abnormal - abnormal in a sort of superhuman way.
and it's this amazing bond that geeks share. it's this sense of unity, this sense of camraderie, this sense of comfort, knowing that there are others out there, willing to sacrafice time, money, and effort in order to achieve not fiscal success nor power nor admiration, but rather the pinnacle geekdom in some respective field.
what's sad is that geeks are taught to work against each other, rather than bond together. think about it - if all the geeks in the world united into one great uprising, the combined passion and power of the worldwide geek community would overthrow the known world. it really would. but instead, the world of geeks has been divided and shattered, and geeks have been taught to ostracize each other.
maybe part of geekdom is an innate attitude that your specific field of geekdom is superior to another. if you didn't think that your concentration of geekdom was better than any other, why would you be such a geek for it? sure, geeks have pride in their respective geek fields, but we must not let geek pride stand in the way of geek unity.
think about it. all you geeks out there, at one time or another, you know you've made fun of sports geeks, poetry geeks, calculus geeks, and the list goes on. while you can't take back things that you may have said, you can always look foward, and try to stir up a conversation with a geek of another interest. trust me, having an inter-geek relationship can expand your universe beyond what you may have thought possible. do you even know what kind of new horizons can be achieved when a film geek and a band geek collide? and maybe one day produce offspring? imagine the possibilities! possible complete destruction of the known universe!!!
so think about it. and try not to limit yourself to fraternization amongst only one type of geek. I've been down that road, and it gets pretty boring sometimes. life is just more wonderful the more geeks you have in it.