It’s always been easy to pick on the nerds.
Those awkward guys and girls who cannot really function in society and who are
only comfortable within the confines of their dimly lit rooms, in front of
their computer, head buried in their comic books, or with paint-dipped brush in
one hand, newly assembled orc in the other. And the only thing that can really
awaken their passions, good or bad, are when they get quickscoped, get an epic
drop, rage at Dan Slott because of Amazing Spider-Man #700 or someone makes fun
of their miniatures.
And I call bullshit.
I’m a nerd, or geek, or whatever. And I
happily embrace that identity. It’s not like I could hide it anyway (the Batman
T-shirts are sort of a give-away), and I’ve been called it enough times by
enough people to realize that it’s probably right. Not all of those comments
have necessarily been derogatory in nature. Especially in the later years,
where I’m now in my twenties, there have been different connotations. When I’ve
been called a nerd and told people I thought that was unnecessary, I’ve been
met with a somewhat surprised “it wasn’t meant as something negative”.
And you know what? I love that.
I’ve been met with all the derogatory
applications as well, especially around 10 years ago, in my tweens and early
teens, when there were always a couple of twats in your class who for some
reason enjoyed spending time picking on the nerdy and the insecure. Because
nothing’s better than making other people feel bad, right? Cunts. Many of us
have been there, and it sucks.
But lately, I’ve been a nerd in the sense
that I’ve been passionate about whatever the topic of discussion might be. This
is a definition of the word that I can get 100% behind. A friend of mine’s told
me that one of the reasons he enjoys my company is that if we, say, sit down to
watch a superhero movie, he enjoys “getting all sorts of extra nerd-info” as I
simply cannot shut my trap and simply have to launch into my own little
commentary track, because I just fucking love Batman and love knowing that they
actually did flip a big-ass truck in The Dark Knight, and I want my friends to
share in my enthusiasm because I’m enjoying it thoroughly. All of us nerds know
that feeling as well: you’re so wicked passionate about something, whether it
be books, games, comic books, board games, movies, TV shows, cartoons, drawing,
a music genre, an artist, whatever. WHAT is not the point. It’s the passion
that matters.
Consider the words of indie game developer,
novelist, game critic, internet personality and Prolific Nerd, Ben ‘Yahtzee’
Croshaw, speaking on what it is to be a fan: “If you got passion for something that’s always interesting, and if you
got no passion for anything, if you claim not to be a nerd, about anything, you
must be the dullest human being in the world.”[1]
I think Yahtzee makes a very important point here: a life without Nerdism
is a life without passion. So embrace it! Also note his point that if you’re
not a nerd, that is without passion, then you’re dull. Notice that Yahtzee says
“about anything”, not “about video
games”. As I said above, what is not the
point. The passion in itself is.
Most people can probably agree that a
hardcore gamer will qualify as a nerd. People might be somewhat less prepared
to label a jock in the same manner, however. But I don’t really see why you’d
separate the two. I’ve a friend who knows everything about the history of the
film media, and can name drop Italian filmmakers from the 60’s like it was
nuthin’. He’s a film nerd. At the same time, he’s ready to sacrifice sleep and
a healthy day rhythm just to catch a certain baseball, football, soccer or
basketball game when Giants, 49’ers, Fulham or Kings are playing. He’s
definitely a sports nerd, too.
This goes back to what I mentioned earlier,
namely the fact that a lot of nerds have probably been picked up by the jock
type dude at school. Which is ridiculous, because few people were as zealous
about their stuff and reacted as angrily as they themselves did. I’ve had
discussions, heated ones as well, with friends about, say, which Batman movie
is the best. But I’ve certainly never started a fight about which one of two equally
shit soccer teams is the best (and yes, they’re shit. I’m from Denmark. We
always lose when playing soccer). That was also a classic move for when they
wanted to pick on someone, by the way: when you were asked about, say, soccer
teams, and refused to provide an answer because you didn’t give a shit, or you
God forbid provided the wrong answer,
it was essentially a carte blanche to pick on you. Again, it’s pretty
hypocritical, because THEY were the guys who got mean, or maybe even violent,
about their opinions, and at the same time used Nerd in a derogatory manner.
But the zealous fanboyism is a discussion for another time.
So yeah, think about it. You’re probably a
nerd in some manner as well. I know people that are nerds in all sorts of ways.
I know comic book nerds, movie nerds, videogame nerds, music nerds, PC nerds,
roleplaying nerds, series nerds and so forth. But I also know people who’re
nerdy about things of a quite different nature. I know cooking nerds,
photography nerds, design nerds, Internet nerds, linguistic nerds, science
nerds, sports nerds, gym nerds, career nerds, alcohol nerds (as in aficionados.
Not alcoholics. I’m hoping) and so forth.
You can be a nerd about a general concept:
as mentioned, I’ve friends who just love the film media so much that they know
everything about Italian movie history, even though they’ve no connection to
Italy and no formal education in Media or Film History or the like.
You can love the shit out of a specific TV
show. Even if it’s no longer running, and it lasted only a short time, you can
still love it like you wouldn’t believe, and to you, one of the biggest crimes
against humanity is the fact that it was cancelled. Firefly, anyone?
Nerdism can be an extremely focused
passion. I know a guy who isn’t really a sci-fi or roleplaying nerd in any way.
But man does he love his space marines.
My point is simply the following: is
passion bad? No. Too much passion can potentially be horrible, but you can’t
really hate on anyone for loving something, can you? You do it yourself – and
why would you hate on someone for loving something else than what you do? It
doesn’t have to be either/or. Only a Sith sees the world in black and white, you
know.
Those are just my two cents. About a nerd,
from a nerd, if you want. So hi. I’m a nerd and proud of it. I love Batman. I
love Star Wars. I love video games, TV series, sci-fi and fantasy. I love
words. I love the English language. I love Shakespeare. I love Eminem. I love
the Arthurian legends. I love comedy, and I love making people laugh. I love a
good story. And I love bacon. My God, do I love bacon. I’m a bit of a nerd with
all these things, some more in certain periods than others. But they are the
passions that have helped form me and that have made me who I am. And I’m pretty happy with that person, really.
I spend a good bit of my time on “nerd culture”, and I felt like sharing my
thoughts about it. So this is what I’m doing, and if you think my opinions are
worth reading, I might share more of ‘em. And if you took your time to read
this, thanks!
RageNerd ftw! Is there such a thing as a bacon connoisseur? There must be, right? Mmmh, bacon nerddom...
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