Geek/Nerd is a Label, Not a Social Circle

Fappy

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I've always hated social labels and have never really cared for geek/nerd as a way of specifying who somebody is despite the fact that it carries some positive connotations these days. Labels/stereotypes exist for the sake of convenience (in social situations and to assist our brain) and have their uses. It's easy to consider people listed under the same label as a "group" and it only really fits the definition in the loosest sense. Being a stereotypical "geek" doesn't mean you are automatically buddies with every other "geek" on the planet. Same goes for any other label no matter how far down you drill (not every Brony is going to get along, etc.). I understand that a lot of people on the outside looking in will make this mistake as they lack insight.

What I don't get is how many people within the "group" don't get this. Things like "geek-cred" and quizzing are just... fucking irrelevant. Who the fuck cares how much of a "geek" someone is? That really has no bearing on how well you will get along with that person. Yeah, it's great to have common interests, but this is not a fucking competition. If they have a common interest, cool. You have something to talk about. If they lack a degree of understanding that you feel they should have to truly appreciate something... then fucking educate them. Don't shun them. Don't look down on them.

Kind of a round-about way of getting to this point but yeah (I apologize, my head is loopy today due to a cold and I sneezed snot all over my work keyboard earlier) ... I returned from my 3rd Dragon*Con last night and met a lot of interesting people, as is usually the case with such an event. Strangely, it wasn't until this weekend that I realized something: I really don't like most of the "geeks/nerds" I meet.

Like many people around here, much of my life has been structured around geeky endeavors. If I ever felt the need to establish "geek-cred" I could probably do so without lifting a finger. But what's the point? Most geeks/nerds are socially awkward, weird assholes. Such is the case with pretty much any group label of humanity. So why is it that so many people strive to gain acceptance from such an arbitrary "group"? A group of faceless, judgmental asshats?

Do me a favor. Next time someone tries to challenge your geekiness/nerdiness slap them in the face and tell them to suck your dick. In the event that you don't have a dick tell them to suck your strap-on.

Sorry if that was a bit ranty... it's just something that's been bothering me for a long time now. The gender threads have something to do with it I admit... but please, for the love of the gods don't turn this into a gender thread.
 

Fappy

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Matthew94 said:
Fappy said:
*bearing

I think a lot of the "grouping" and subsequent "quizzing" comes from people taking shit for having geeky hobbies when they were young and thus sticking together with anyone similar and the quizzing may come from shit tons of resentment of "geekyness" being "cool" these days and even though they have been "geeky" for all these years, it's usually non-geeks (ie people who say "oh look, I watched the star trek reboot, Im such a geek) taking all the "credit".

What do I know, just another take on it.
Couldn't you save the grammar Nazi propaganda for the end of your post!?

>:O
 

BreakfastMan

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B-but, if we do that, we won't be able to justify looking down on the type of people who bullied us in highschool! D: I don't know if I want to live in a world where I can't feel superior to other people because of what I spend my free time doing...
 

LetalisK

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Fappy said:
Do me a favor. Next time someone tries to challenge your geekiness/nerdiness slap them in the face and tell them to suck your dick. In the event that you don't have a dick tell them to suck your strap-on.
Informing them that I get laid on a regular basis shuts down the conversation pretty fast too.
 

Guffe

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I have always been labeled as a geek by people who don't know me too well.
Fun fact: I know nothing about computers, don't read comics, play less games than most my other friends etc etc... (these are the main things that label a geek here in Finland, at least what I've noticed)
It doesn't bother me, I enjoy the stuff I do and if someone who doesn't know me starts thinking shit about me, guess what? Couldn't fucking care less! If you want to make a profile about me, at least learn to know me first!
 

Scrustle

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I guess some people, perhaps especially socially awkward people, feel the need to impress and be accepted by those who are not accepting. If they can succeed then they feel good about themselves. They have been deemed worthy by those who usually treat people with scorn. This means they are one of them, therefore better than everyone else, and justified in treating others lower than themselves as well. And thus the cycle continues.

Also, I hope you cleaned your keyboard.
 

Fappy

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Scrustle said:
I guess some people, perhaps especially socially awkward people, feel the need to impress and be accepted by those who are not accepting. If they can succeed then they feel good about themselves. They have been deemed worthy by those who usually treat people with scorn. This means they are one of them, therefore better than everyone else, and justified in treating others lower than themselves as well. And thus the cycle continues.

Also, I hope you cleaned your keyboard.
I did. It was quite a disaster. Thankfully there is virtually no one else in the office today to witness my blunder >.>
 

RhombusHatesYou

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Fappy said:
Do me a favor. Next time someone tries to challenge your geekiness/nerdiness slap them in the face and tell them to suck your dick. In the event that you don't have a dick tell them to suck your strap-on.
Nah, I just say "look here, you inept, insecure, social retard, the day I give a fuck about what you think is the day I eat a bullet. Now fuck off before I stop being polite."
 

Nickolai77

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Sorry OP, but i do think that Geek/Nerd is a social circle. It's a label in the sense that someone like a school bully might slap onto someone to say they're in that clique, or it might be a label worn proudly by certain people.

Nerd sub-culture is pretty broad, but generally it consists of people who are into at least a couple of the following interests and hobbies: Gaming, fantasy/Sci-Fi fiction, Japanese anime and culture and superhero comics etc. Often but not always, the people who are share these interests are introverted and creative, and may have been bullied in high-school and had problems attracting the opposite sex in their teenage years. If you put two nerds together who live on opposite sides of the world chances are they will get on. It's true that they won't necessarily get on- one might be an extroverted Otaku and the other may be an introverted American superhero fanatic and despise anime- but generally speaking there are enough commonalities for nerds to get on.

Nerd culture is certainly very elitist, that is a downside, but there are other social cliques out there which are just as elitist believe me. Perhaps a degree of elitism is inevitable in any social sub culture.
 

DugMachine

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I wish geek-cred shit would go away. Granted i'm older now and don't really have to do deal with it but when I first started uni I tried to get into the geeky social circles cause well shit those people share common interests with me but it seems I was never enough.

I said this a long time ago. I'm too normal to hang out with geeky people but i'm too geeky to hang out with normal people.

It's a weird conundrum I've always been in. I've been a dedicated gamer all my life and can geek out over some stuff pretty hard, in private. That there seems to not be enough for people because I won't sit out in public and talk about video games 24/7 or yell meme jokes n shit. Then of course I get the "Oh well why the hell are you ashamed of your geeky side" and that's not it. It's just I keep my gaming world exactly where it should be, when i'm outside I present myself in a dignified fucking way not walking around with videogame shirts and spouting random video game trivia/jokes and looking down on people who don't get them.
 

Siegreich

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Modern culture is based on conformity so that's what most people try to do, they label themselves Geeks/Nerds because that feels closest to the identity they want to have and cling to it for dear life because it sure beats actually trying to be an individual.
 

Vault101

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DugMachine said:
It's a weird conundrum I've always been in. I've been a dedicated gamer all my life and can geek out over some stuff pretty hard, in private. That there seems to not be enough for people because I won't sit out in public and talk about video games 24/7 or yell meme jokes n shit. Then of course I get the "Oh well why the hell are you ashamed of your geeky side" and that's not it. It's just I keep my gaming world exactly where it should be, when i'm outside I present myself in a dignified fucking way not walking around with videogame shirts and spouting random video game trivia/jokes and looking down on people who don't get them.
eeehhhhh.....not sure I agree with "keep it inside" thing

if people are passionate then theres nothing wrong with that...and talking about videogames is great

[small/]I like my videogame shirts[/small]

OT: I've jsut come out of an argument with somone who I feel took it all waaaaay too seriously
 

NiPah

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Oh well there's your problem, I don't know what it is about cons but most of the attendees annoy the shit out of me. I found that when I actually started to volunteer and work as staff for conventions I did find very friendly like-minded geeks and nerds that I enjoyed being with (no not they con-goers, they were still assholes), no it was actually the other volunteers and staff that are amazingly fun to be with.

Now after 5 years and over 10 cons under my belt I've met an amazing group of people that I can freely talk about anime, video games, and conventions to.
 

Vault101

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so aparently nerds/geeks re assholes now....

this strikes me as....odd...
 

Stasisesque

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DugMachine said:
I wish geek-cred shit would go away. Granted i'm older now and don't really have to do deal with it but when I first started uni I tried to get into the geeky social circles cause well shit those people share common interests with me but it seems I was never enough.

I said this a long time ago. I'm too normal to hang out with geeky people but i'm too geeky to hang out with normal people.

It's a weird conundrum I've always been in. I've been a dedicated gamer all my life and can geek out over some stuff pretty hard, in private. That there seems to not be enough for people because I won't sit out in public and talk about video games 24/7 or yell meme jokes n shit. Then of course I get the "Oh well why the hell are you ashamed of your geeky side" and that's not it. It's just I keep my gaming world exactly where it should be, when i'm outside I present myself in a dignified fucking way not walking around with videogame shirts and spouting random video game trivia/jokes and looking down on people who don't get them.
^ This guy gets it.

I came into the geek scene pretty late, I was in my twenties before I really embraced things like gaming, though I had always dipped my toe in. Maybe it's the fact I haven't been a hardcore geek all my life, or even at all, that I can't grasp this fascination with the 'culture' that's popped up over the past few years.

It just strikes me as a bit...tacky? I would say the same for avid sports fans. I'm sure you are lovely people, but the rest of the train does not really need to hear you scream football facts at the top of your lungs, or discuss who is going to win the Champions League. You know we can hear you and we are not impressed.
 

BENZOOKA

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Geeks/nerds are very loose tags.

Trying to attain "geek-cred" is a completely natural social phenomenon. When you're conversing with someone with the same focus and overlapping areas of main interests, you often do try to impress others, or just feed the conversation, with the knowledge and experience you have. It is a normal part of a conversation for anyone who would like to be respected, or thought as adept, or as good as they are, in the given context. In other words: basically everyone who has a healthy to too-grand self-image. And for some people, doing it more extensively can seem like a good, if not the only, way to get recognition.
 

Vault101

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Stasisesque said:
I came into the geek scene pretty late, I was in my twenties before I really embraced things like gaming, though I had always dipped my toe in. Maybe it's the fact I haven't been a hardcore geek all my life, or even at all, that I can't grasp this fascination with the 'culture' that's popped up over the past few years.

It just strikes me as a bit...tacky? I would say the same for avid sports fans. I'm sure you are lovely people, but the rest of the train does not really need to hear you scream football facts at the top of your lungs, or discuss who is going to win the Champions League. You know we can hear you and we are not impressed.
hmmmm...somwhat similar here, thoguh I still don't see why it has to be "hidden"

not sure if fully related but I'm not sure I could bring myself to wear a gaming shirt with anything "retro" on it...it just feels too obnoxious/poser like....much like alot of the stuff on teefury (dont get me wrong though I actually like teefury)

I do however have a few gaming shirts I like..sine they are so hard to come by in girl fits
 

Kae

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Geek, nerd, gamer, hipster, etc, are all labels, that's why I hate them, I hate labels they just leave to assumptions and often misconceptions that's why I never define myself as anything, then again it's not like it matters, I have never cared much what people think of me, though it does annoy me when people just assume stuff, like that cop who assumed I was a mugger because I was out at night in the park and am tall and have a scar over my left eye, that was annoying, I was just playing Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow because I couldn't sleep, and the weather was nice, but anyway, assumptions and misconceptions are annoying and I hate them.
 

Doclector

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People seek acceptance from their fellow nerd because in times that are, to be honest, probably past now, nerds could seek acceptance nowhere else. Nerds were completely exiled from normal society. A nerd with friends who aren't nerds was a stupid pipe dream, and a nerd with a girlfriend was simply absurd.

These days, people are more accepting. True, it's mostly due to insufferable hipsters making nerds "cool", but we've still gained increased social standing, and really, that's all you need. Just a foot in the door without people instantly dismissing you. Everything else is you.

Still, there's remainders from the days when we had to fear normal people. Those people have every reason to be awkward.