The nature of geek-dom
POSTED BY: reginaroadie
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 23:05
VIEWED: 6583
PAGE 4 of 5
I tend to talk a lot in terms of steroetypes, mainly cause I can, I find them amusing, I love the contradictions inherant in stereotypes, and take a perverse joy in annoying people, especially the PC brigade.
I mean i'll refer to myself as a geek and oten play on the stereotype, but I'm obviously not steretypical - I have boobs for starters. I can also wax lyrical about shoes and handbags, I've excellent social skills (even with dyslexia making sentences problematic) and i'm a very girly girl.
I'm a sci-fi geek, but i couldn't tell you what happened in whatever episode of whatever show, or what so and so name was, I don't wear show t-shirts or whatever, I don't know anything about computers beyond 'it pushes the buttons and the lights go on'and i date.
ok, used to date.
my standards are too high for Liverpool.
I'm also a costume geek. In fact i'm more likely to talk your hind leg off about the progression of fashionable silhouettes from the georgians throught the romantic era to the mid 19th c. and the influence of social and political happenings on it. or the randomness of metric flat drafting instructions in such and such a book, or the body fascism that can be seen today and whether its more or less healthy than the cult of the corset. Or the total lack of availability in materials in this area...
are you getting the picture?
but i still count myself as a geek. Wheather thats because i'm being contrary, or taking delight in provoking reactions, or still needing to separate myself from peers or championing the underdog (all of which i do a lot) or what i don't know.
http://www.myspace.com/seryndippyt
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Well as I said before I've been a geek for a long time. Even before high school. Graduated in 1970. So now you know your hearing from a pretty old geek. The term geek and nerd did not exist back then. So the term geek is rather new to me.
I think geeks have good values. We understand our own differences and become more tolerant of other's differences. Well, that has been my case.
I can't prove it, but I imagine people like the Wright Brothers were probably the geeks of their time. Spending countless hours developing an airplane. Actually having to invent the instruments to test their theories because these instruments did not exist. That's quit a passion.
This is my second fansite. The other one I belonged to closed down. To much spam. I have been into science fiction from a very early age. I think it is because their are no boundries. You just have your imagination. I find people who are apart of this very intellegent. I may be biased about that. But some of the conversations I've had on this site have been very mind opening. I have learned a lot since becoming a member. This thread is a excellent example. I hope you don't think I'm laying it on to thick, because it is true.
So after another long winded post I'm saying geeks contribute a lot. Some are motorheads, some have plastic model cars all over their house, Some watch a favorite TV program like Firefly. We all don't invent airplanes, but football fans are not all trouble makers.
I had to put that last one in there because I'm a Green Bay Packer fan. But I do understand why some dislike sports fans. I have been pretty angry at some of their behavior myself. Someone killed the dog of one of our Packer coaches because of a loosing season. That is not geekness. That is insane.
So I don't parade it, but I feel some self-esteem belonging to this description. I am not the brightess bulb in the pack, but I like to think I contribute.
Traveler
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One fanbase that I find oddly exclusive and at times vindictive are the hardcore STAR WARS fans. As much as I love the STAR WARS movies, it's really the fanbase that has kinda turned me off of the franchise. Or at least has me waiting for the 30th anniversary DVD's to come out rather than the limited editions coming out on Tuesday that have the original versions on there.
See, I just turned 21. I was 11 when the original movies were rereleased in theatres. I had only seen the true originals only a handful of times. So when I saw the newer versions, I wasn't crying over the fact that Greedo shot first and not Han (which to this day seems like a minor detail to create such a big stink over), or that they cleaned up some of the fx or had moving dewbacks in the background. It was still STAR WARS to me. Same with the prequels. My only complaint about any of the prequels was that the kid that played young Anakin in EP 1 was a terrible actor. That's it.
But the majority of STAR WARS fans basically turned bashing the prequels into a blood sport. Even with EP 3 when Anakin slaughtered the padawans, that wasn't enough. And if you actually speak up and say that you actually LIKED the prequels, they look at you as if you wen't over to the Dark Side.
I dunno, maybe it's a generational thing. I was at the comic store I frequent this week talking to the owner about STAR WARS, and he talked about how the little kids come in and actually get excited about the Jar Jar figures they have there and the figures of the newer flicks and all that. So I'm happy that there are people out there who don't consider the prequels blasphemous.
The point is, if you're looking for a fanbase that's intentionally exclusive, that's one right there.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"There's only one "Return" ok, and it ain't "of the King", it's "of the Jedi."
"Maybe we should start calling your friend 'Padme' because he loves 'Mannequin Skywalker' so much, Right? (imitating robot) Danger...danger...my name is Anakin...my shitty acting is ruining saga."
Excerpt of internet teaser for CLERKS 2.
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Quote:
But the majority of STAR WARS fans basically turned bashing the prequels into a blood sport. Even with EP 3 when Anakin slaughtered the padawans, that wasn't enough. And if you actually speak up and say that you actually LIKED the prequels, they look at you as if you wen't over to the Dark Side.
The primary problem with those types of fans is that they've grown up, while the films have not. As they grew, they expected the prequel films to suit their newfound tastes and expectations.
Quote:
We understand our own differences and become more tolerant of other's differences.
But Star Wars fans on the other hand...
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Quote:
Originally posted by traveler:
I can't prove it, but I imagine people like the Wright Brothers were probably the geeks of their time. Spending countless hours developing an airplane. Actually having to invent the instruments to test their theories because these instruments did not exist. That's quit a passion.
All inventors and entreprenurs are geeks to some extent-Edison staying in his lab all hours, working on or directing work on all sorts of neat technology for it's time, from the light bulb to the phonograph or Bill Gates (not going to say a word) making the computer acessible to millions or Steve Jobs over at Apple.
Geeks seem to have a dogged persistance approaching obsessiveness and curiosity about things. That what seems to set us apart from other people.
I once saw a sign that said, (paraphrasing) "Be nice to a geek, you'll eventually end up working for him/or her".
Traveler
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This whole thread is fascinating. I especially laughed at the whole tie-in to obsessiveness. Luke Jackson, a young writer from the UK with Asperger's Syndrome, posed a good question: When is an obsession not an obsession? When it has to do with football. Of course he was talking about this in regard to AS, but its equally applicable to this discussion as well.
It's already been pointed out, but everyone really does geek out on something, be it sports, sci fi, anime, cars, or what have you. As one of my co-workers is fond of pointing out, it takes all kinds.
To be honest, its the ones who DON'T geek out on something that really really scare me.
And regarding the Wright Brothers: They were beyond geeks and on into outcast heretics. Keep in mind the director of the Smithsonian Institute was their only other real competition. He was director of the Smithsonian and an established scientist. They owned a bicycle shop. Langley was allowed to dream big. Socially, Orville and Wilbur Wright were not.
-- Twitch
A computer geek, a metalworking geek, a robotics geek, a photography geek, a book geek, and one who dreams of shipping out on Serenity. To Luke: Sorry, no football. But somehow I bet you're OK with that.
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so, from this then, you guys are looking to geek as being defined by certain specialist knowledge, rather then a societal group?
which is interesting ^^
don't know, wouldn't really describe myself as a geek, but then, wouldn't describe myself as anything much else either. i'm not anything specific, i just have tendancy's 
oooh, also, while i think of it, the sports thing, in scotland, football is big, but it isn't so much the sports as it is the bigotry that keeps the turnstyle's ticking, it's a life-style, and frequently religious, choice, that comes with it's own ready-made enemies.
_______
jailbait.
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so the questions not really 'are you a geek' but more 'whats your geekism?'
I heard the funniest wrd the other day, can't remember where already, but it was 'Nerdgasm' for those moments of indescribable pleasure when you find a mint copy of a rare comic, or a whole collection of boxed starwars collectables, or wake up to discover that the sci-fi channel is doing a Firefly marathon on your day off.
I thought is was hilarious.
http://www.myspace.com/seryndippyt
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Quote:
Originally posted by twitch:
This whole thread is fascinating. I especially laughed at the whole tie-in to obsessiveness. Luke Jackson, a young writer from the UK with Asperger's Syndrome, posed a good question: When is an obsession not an obsession? When it has to do with football. Of course he was talking about this in regard to AS, but its equally applicable to this discussion as well.
It's already been pointed out, but everyone really does geek out on something, be it sports, sci fi, anime, cars, or what have you. As one of my co-workers is fond of pointing out, it takes all kinds.
To be honest, its the ones who DON'T geek out on something that really really scare me.
My daughter "has" AS and I've seen some obsessive tendancies in myself so I know exactly what you are taking about. To use the classic mental health defination, it's an obsession if it interfers with your life. But then where is that point?
IMHO, like you say, everyone geeks out over something but few people are quite as obsessive about their love as are true geeks.
This is the first time I've really geeked out about something if you don't count horses when I was little so this subject is very fascinating to me.
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I could argue the point that hard core sports fanatics DO let their... ahem... "interest" interfere with their lives. Except that their definition of life includes obsessing about sports, so it becomes circular in a hurry. As you say, where is that point?
If you geeked out on horses when you were little, Firefly must be a double-whammy for you. Space ships AND horses. Can't beat it.
-- Twitch
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