Why I’m glad to live in the new Millennium
In the 70s the freaks had their day. In the 80’s it was Hip to be Square (and rich). In the 90s the slacker grunge world blossomed and was cool.
Now it’s our turn. Geeks, Nerds, Dorks---It is our turn to RISE!
CNN even said so in an article titled “Dork Pride”.
It is our turn to be cool, and we don’t even have to do anything but be our obsessive selves, hiding out in our compulsions. People still won’t know what we are talking about when we're at a party and get carried away going on about our area of socially outcast expertise, but now they’ll think were pretty groovy for being able to elicit those blank stares.
In this CNN article one nerd who feels suddenly validated worries that there will be a time when we return to a life of ridicule. But that's based on the idea that this is simply a 'trend' and subject to the fickleness of fashion. I believe it's more than that. Trends seem to start because of a fascination with something that wasn't there before, like the hula-hoop and Star Wars. It's a new excitement based on novelty.
But Geeks and Nerds have always been there, and there have been lots of us. It's like the ants in Pixar's "A Bug's Life"; when they realized how many more of them there are than the bullies, they figure out how to band together for cumulative strength.
The Interenet has brought us together and now the genie is out of the bottle. This is not a trend, it's an emboldening. We will not go quietly into the night!
And it seems like everyone is realizing that there is a little geek in all of us. And Geek is Good. Sarah Vowel, a self proclaimed history geek, labels "geekiness" as "detail oriented zealotry". The term Geek seems to be taking the place of Fanatic as more and more people have begun using the term in proud reference to themselves.
If people have to explain why they know something because of a secret passion, I've begun hearing people say things like "I'm a baseball geek", "I'm a railroad geek", "I'm a knitting geek". A term that began it's assosiciation with just Star Trek, computers and comic books has now found identification in every form of minuta.
She goes on in her book, "A Partly Cloudy Patriot", to quote a posting from Slashdot on the subject:
"Geeks tend to be focused on very narrow fields of endevor. The modern Geek has been generally dismissed by society because their passions are viewed as trivial by those who see The Big Picture. But Geeks understand that the Big Picture is pixalated and that their high level of contribution in small areas grow the picture. They don't need to see what everyone else is doing to make their part better."
And besides, like the kids in the CNN article realized, being a geek is "where all our friends are and that's where we have the most fun."
If we ever do fall back out of interest to the mainstream media and entertainment gatekeepers, we will always have the Internet. As Ms. Vowell says, the Internet is the Geek Israel.
Another quote I read recently that I like stated this after a review of the content of Blogs, Podcasts, and Video Blogs:
"It seems that Mundane is the new Punk Rock."
Cool.
Rock on Geeks. Rock loud.
Now it’s our turn. Geeks, Nerds, Dorks---It is our turn to RISE!
CNN even said so in an article titled “Dork Pride”.
It is our turn to be cool, and we don’t even have to do anything but be our obsessive selves, hiding out in our compulsions. People still won’t know what we are talking about when we're at a party and get carried away going on about our area of socially outcast expertise, but now they’ll think were pretty groovy for being able to elicit those blank stares.
In this CNN article one nerd who feels suddenly validated worries that there will be a time when we return to a life of ridicule. But that's based on the idea that this is simply a 'trend' and subject to the fickleness of fashion. I believe it's more than that. Trends seem to start because of a fascination with something that wasn't there before, like the hula-hoop and Star Wars. It's a new excitement based on novelty.
But Geeks and Nerds have always been there, and there have been lots of us. It's like the ants in Pixar's "A Bug's Life"; when they realized how many more of them there are than the bullies, they figure out how to band together for cumulative strength.
The Interenet has brought us together and now the genie is out of the bottle. This is not a trend, it's an emboldening. We will not go quietly into the night!
And it seems like everyone is realizing that there is a little geek in all of us. And Geek is Good. Sarah Vowel, a self proclaimed history geek, labels "geekiness" as "detail oriented zealotry". The term Geek seems to be taking the place of Fanatic as more and more people have begun using the term in proud reference to themselves.
If people have to explain why they know something because of a secret passion, I've begun hearing people say things like "I'm a baseball geek", "I'm a railroad geek", "I'm a knitting geek". A term that began it's assosiciation with just Star Trek, computers and comic books has now found identification in every form of minuta.
She goes on in her book, "A Partly Cloudy Patriot", to quote a posting from Slashdot on the subject:
"Geeks tend to be focused on very narrow fields of endevor. The modern Geek has been generally dismissed by society because their passions are viewed as trivial by those who see The Big Picture. But Geeks understand that the Big Picture is pixalated and that their high level of contribution in small areas grow the picture. They don't need to see what everyone else is doing to make their part better."
And besides, like the kids in the CNN article realized, being a geek is "where all our friends are and that's where we have the most fun."
If we ever do fall back out of interest to the mainstream media and entertainment gatekeepers, we will always have the Internet. As Ms. Vowell says, the Internet is the Geek Israel.
Another quote I read recently that I like stated this after a review of the content of Blogs, Podcasts, and Video Blogs:
"It seems that Mundane is the new Punk Rock."
Cool.
Rock on Geeks. Rock loud.
posted by Will at 1:41 PM
3 Comments:
OH YEAH!!
Here's a 'duh' moment. All these years, growing up and feeling different from everybody else, and marching to the beat of a different drum, I thought it meant I was uncool and a loser ... and after reading your post, I realized here the whole time I've just been a geek (which has a whole 'nother connotation now) and didn't know it.
Geek Power! :)
I don't know if I'm a geek...but I am a bit of a Luddite...which makes me geeky in and of itself, I think.
Did you see "Napoleon Dynamite"?...never has geeky looked so cool... :)
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