What is Geek? When I was growing up, if you were a geek, you were a nerd. A dweeb. An outcast. You were just downright weird and uncool.
Wikipedia defines Geek as follows:
The word geek is a slang term originally used to describe eccentric or non-mainstream people, with different connotations ranging from “an expert or enthusiast” to “a person heavily interested in a hobby”, with a general pejorative meaning of “a peculiar or otherwise dis-likable person, especially one who is perceived to be overly intellectual”.
I see my twelve-year old, who is most certainly a geek (thank you very much) and his daily interactions with other kids his age. How his peers perceive him is totally different than what it was like when I was growing up. Hell, I’d go as far to say that being a geek has changed drastically in the past decade!
While I was halfway through college, Dr. Who returned to television, and it’s now become a cultural phenomenon that seems to keep gaining steam with no end in sight. Right before Doctor Who hit t.v., The Lord of the Rings was going through its arc and Halo was the next big thing on consoles. And as I remember it, maybe that’s where things started to change. Fantasy and sci fi were coming back to the collective conscious of our culture and the fact that it posed different ideas wasn’t just novel. It was wonderful… It was cool. 
Maybe that’s where it started. Also remember that during that time the Star Wars prequels were rolling through theaters. And the zombie fad was gaining some traction with the Dawn of the Dead remake from Zack Synder and the Land of the Dead film from George Romero. It was really a fascinating time to see all these things rear their heads. And I think it changed the public’s perception of who geeks were. Geeks were the guys and girls who liked this stuff. Hell, they didn’t just like it, they loved it.
But in my youth it was a bit different. I was a bit different. I didn’t relate to a lot of kids. I wasn’t particularly athletic. But I loved games and reading. Toting a Star Wars book about didn’t make me cool, it made me a target. I was different. And it was easy to point and laugh. Maybe some of the kids picked on me because they liked the same things, but didn’t have the courage or lack of friends to display their passions out in the open. Regardless, they picked on me all the same. And it hurt. My God, did it hurt. I probably live with some of that same anger today. I’ve dealt with a lot of ridicule during my life. But as an adult, I understand that kids are kids. They’re too stupid to know better. They do things for the dumbest reasons because they don’t know have a clue on what’s right or how they should treat one another.
All the pain, the mocking, the ridicule… It’s all done. It’s over now. So there’s no reason to dwell. Life has too much to offer for me to hold on to the past. Especially negative things like that.
But a lot of my fellow geeks can’t let go. I think some of us are still ridiculed. And why not? Some people are just different. So much so, that they’re an easy target. That’s part of life. It’s the way things have been and always will be.
But one of the things about change, and this was brought to my attention by Alan Wilson (you’ll read about it in the second part of my interview with him, coming very soon, promise!) is that it’s done by people on the fringe… On the outer aspects of an industry, culture, whatever. Ideas that are popular get adopted and become mainstream. Well, I think geek has become mainstream.
The price of something becoming mainstream is that everyone now likes it. What may have made you different may not make you so different now. And for some of my grizzled geek compatriots, that ridicule we endured, that pain, comes boiling out. In the gaming industry, I’ve noticed a lot of that hate get directed at women. It’s simultaneously sad and fascinating to watch some of these digital dramas unfold. I’ve seen some women attacked for playing Call of Duty, while others were scorned for dressing seductively in cosplay. “They’re posers,” some will say, or “they’re not that pretty and want attention.”
To that, I have to ask – Who gives a shit?
In my example above, maybe some of those women are posers. Maybe they’re dressing seductively for attention. Or maybe they fucking love it.
Geek has moved on kids. It’s gone mainstream. Our little hobby that was once the pride of pre-pubescent boys has turned into something else. It hasn’t just been adopted by the masses, it’s been embraced. Because of that, there’s now people of all genders, shapes and sizes joining the fray.
Maybe some of that anger stems from the fact that this was our small piece of solace in a cruel world. And now the world wants in. And in an infantile way. That’s not fair.
But the thing is, this little piece of escape, that once provided both joy and ridicule, has now become an object of interest to the masses. So instead of setting you apart from them, it’s provided a common bond. A way in which we, the outsiders, can connect with others and share our passion.
I’ve always loved fantasy and sci-fi because both genres allow us to dream, to imagine worlds far beyond our comprehension. Some of those dreams are nightmares, a lesson on what to avoid. But some (many in fact), give a glimpse of hope – of what we can achieve, of what we can become.
In my mind, more people finding interest in such concepts and daring to dream isn’t just a good thing, it’s great.
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