Let this be clear: Geeks are into media, and nerds do the useful (general sciency) stuff. Now that that’s established, we can start. Shows like “The Big Bang Theory” and fi lms such as “Scott Pilgrim Versus the World” have been used as examples of the mainstream acceptance of geekery. However, your average guy hunched over a keyboard, typing out his/her response to the latest casting rumors from “Ant- Man” is not really climbing that high on the social ladder. This is because while the idea of a geek is cool (into the latest trends, snooping out news before it hits the big outlets), most people tend to confuse them with hipsters and don’t care for the socially awkward aspects most people with obsessions have.
All this “mainstream acceptance” has led a lot of geeks to ponder the question of what makes them them. Unfortunately, it’s caused a lot of pointing fi ngers at females and accusations of “lacking cred.” So, who is a geek?
Everyone.
Geekery is sort of an abstract, oxymoronic idea, wherein your passions unite you with individuals who share similar mindsets, and yet distance you from others who don’t share those interests. That’s the real meat and potatoes of it: a glue that hold some people together and pushes some people away. And guess what? It can be anything. Comics. Movies. Music. Sports. Fashion. Even the hippest nuance of culture is a source of geeks. Perhaps that new pair of shoes you got catches jokes for their bright color. Maybe your coworkers make fun of you for knowing every player’s stat spread on a team or the entire history of the Aztec empire. Then again, there are no doubt half a dozen people you could talk to about the subjects you love, and at the same time, you might poke fun at my love of comic books.
The point is, you’re not cool. No one is. What’s super awesome to one group is super lame to another. Engineering majors might not care that you scored an internship with CNN, just like business students fi nd it irritating that you can’t meet your group because of a “pointless sorority meeting.” But those things matter to you. Just understand that reading Jaloponik or Glamour doesn’t make you any different than the person rolling that 20-sided die to see if their paladin kills that ghost dragon. You’re two sides of the same coin.
Joel Morris is a senior and the E&L ediotr.