Rant #8,957...

Today's topic: People's misunderstanding of what a geek or a nerd is. It seems now for the past 15 years or so, whenever a person seems to have knowledge of something past that of what mud knows, or when someone has a passion for something-- and they don't play it off nonchalant to their peers--that person is branded as a 'Nerd', or 'Geek'. Our modern perceptions of this have gotten so misused that we now have the following ad:



This pisses me off!! These people are no more geeks than my left shoe is a giraffe. But I guess it is not the people in the photographs, or the Internet creators fault as to the misuse and misunderstanding of the terms, geek, or nerd. Why, even amongst us true geeks there is a big misunderstanding of what makes a geek a geek, or a nerd a nerd. So today, in my small forgotten corner of the Internet, I will clear up once and for all what it is that makes up a nerd or geek.

Nerd vs. Geek:

Prologue. Both have similar traits. This leads the average person to get caught up easily in the confusion of who is who, and what is what. Let's tackle the similarities first. Both are social outcasts. In the pyramid scheme of popularity, these two are amongst the many bottom feeder groups (next to the scary goth girl atheists, and the kid who hasn't bathed since first grade). In school, these were the kids picked last for sports, and if they had the courage at all to show up for a dance, were the wallflowers. Both groups are known for being somewhat of intellects, socially awkward, making obscure jokes, dressing not the trendiest, and containing one or more people in their ranks that have an usual and loud laugh that can be ridiculed (see Hollywood version of this here).

Definitions. Now a Nerd is the social outcast that comes from academia. He is the math person, the hardcore scientist person, the poetry person, etc., etc. His realm is that of school and book knowledge. He might have a poster of Einstein, Nietzsche, or of the periodical table. He makes jokes that would require advanced knowledge in mathematics to have the ability to solve the joke, and arrive at the humor. Their shirts have sayings from famous dead authors that say things that no one else understands (or even where the hell that saying comes from). The nerd has two sexual organs, his naturally given one that he (or she) longs to use, and then the one that the nerd has developed to give them equal pleasure, their brains.
Here are some classic nerds (both stereotyped and actual):
Sorry for the bottom right image, I couldn't resist (this is an example of geek joke).

Note: If you can name the people that are the real nerds, odds are, you're a nerd.

The Geek on the other hand is also knowledgeable, but not of academia, but rather of culture. His is the realm of media in all its forms (comics, Internet chat boards, video games, the obsession with collecting every recorded version of a song or import of his favorite band). This type of outcast is quite amazing in that he/she feeds off of society's creations, but is never fully a part of the center of what makes it happen. They have encyclopedic knowledge of TV show episodes, but are too awkward for the most part, to take advantage of making new episodes. In a way, they are the modern museumists (to create a new word) and librarians. Their houses can hold relics of their obsessions at levels that would make a museum cringe. Their personal collections of reading material and knowledge house that of small libraries. Here are some examples of geeks (both stereotyped and actual):

The bottom right person is actually known as 'The Angry Video Game Nerd'. This proves my point about the confusion of nerd vs. geek. To give him credit though, 'Video Game Nerd' just rolls off the tongue better.

Now why do so many people use the term geek or nerd so recklessly?

Explanations. First off, the plethora of movies in the 80's and 90's where the geeky or nerdy kids are the sad abused groups, only to turn around and be cool in the end of the story, really laid the foundation. Everyone, and I mean everyone, feels alone or out of the group from time to time. These movies and stories really hit us where we are all tender. But seriously, if you look someone from a popular TV drama where everyone sleeps with everyone (like say a Gray's Anatomy, or a Northshore, or O.C., etc., etc.) you don't get to group yourself with the nerds or outcasts, I think you've focused on other things in your life.

Second, being popular is a pyramid scheme that when you really cut the mustard, is a about nothing more than primal mating rituals. Who has the best genes (in our past this meant the tallest, strongest, most handsome male you could muster, for guys, to put it bluntly, anything that looked covered in sexually enticing spheres and looked so fertile you just want to f**k the brains out of). As a modern society we pride ourselves on having moved past our more animalistic side, but in doing so forget why we do the things we do, only to end up just going back to our animalistic side again. With the setup that popularity is a pyramid that so few get to be on the top of, there is a giant basin of rejects. Many of these people, like myself, have learned and adapted to embrace what made us outcasts. This proved marketable and lucrative for companies. Slowly but surely the things that nerds and geeks used to wear as their heraldry of arms proving to the world that they were on the fringes of society, more and more people are wearing and embracing (thus making, popular). Look at the San Diego Comic Con. In the 70's and early 80's women who looked like this wouldn't have shown up if they paid them a million dollars:
Notice the shirt is a nerd, while the woman is not.

Yet now, women like this are paying to show up:
I can't wait till Supergirl flies.

Lastly, and most importantly, why people get the whole nerd/geek thing confused and misused is that simply we are human beings. Human beings may be more simple to put in a box when we are younger and in school, but as we mature into adulthood we realize that the average human being is actually a complex combination of life experiences, dueling thoughts, and varied likes and dislikes that make them unique and harder to put labels on. Can gorgeously attractive or handsome people like nerdy or geeky stuff? Of course! Hell yeah! Why can't they be allowed?! In fact, to make this country better, it would be nice if it was okay to look up the smart people as heroes and heroines. It would be better for us as an evolving, growing society, if we didn't look down on things like comic books as 'for children' but rather no different than the mythologies and literature of old--they all have the same purpose.

But... (Anger generates and the hulk-rage of James Suhr starts to come out)

If you are going to label people like the ad does, and use a term that is most notably used to group, and cast out, shut-ins have your goddamn pictures reflect that! Blurgg!! (a geek joke) That picture makes me mad! The one guy is holding a surfboard with the haircut he learned to have from a frickin' J. Crew ad. And the woman has not the shame and shyness and uncomfortability with her body that a geeky girl would have with her body. (NOTE: To be clear, I do not oppose women wanting to pose in photographs (seemingly or actually) topless. This is just a clarification that if you are going to use b.s. societal labels, use the appropriate imagery to convey the bullshit idea) If you are going to call yourself a nerd, or geek, you had best learn something about that topic past that of an Access Hollywood level of depth.

Goddammit!! I'm out here... I hoped you enjoyed my rant. I'll start posting on a more frequent, weekly basis. Suhr out!