5 Minute Nerdgasm

Is it my imagination or has been no finer time than right now to be a  geek or nerd? As I was growing up there was always a certain stigma attached to having a little bit too much of an interest in particular subjects. I'm trying to wrack my brains to remember what the 'cool' kids were into. At school, they played football (that's 'Soccer' to our North American friends) and hung out around benches in the playground and in the high street.  Still not sure on that one,  if I'm honest. Does a bench make you cooler? They never even sat on down on them... maybe that's why they were so cool? They had a bench but never used it. They just all stood around, shirts untucked looking distastefully at all and sundry.

I've never totally understood where I fit in, and at the early part of secondary school I hadn't worked out that I didn't give a shit about that fact.  I was big, strong and fast and enjoyed playing sports but I had secrets. Awful, terrible secrets. I loved reading comics, playing computer games and listening to a wide range of alternative music.  That sentence seems crazy now. Comics are huge, with the spread into full mainstream media they are the base for some of the biggest forms of entertainment and the most popular films in the world.  The gaming industry has been elevated to the largest economic source of entertainment and has been fully embraced by most as part of the fabric of society. The debate of 'games as art' still rages and gaming channels and Esport on the internet are massive.

Yet back when I was growing up it still felt that you had to hide certain sides of this if you were pertaining to be cool (which I'm not sure I ever did,  let alone achieved.)  I can however imagine the derision if I'd confessed at 14 years old how I was still in love with the idea of giant talking robots or secretly wished I was going grow up to be Tony Stark (okay, so maybe I didn't want to be an abusive drunk, but I'd have taken any superhero who's tights would fit - let's settle for 90's pin up Gambit).

Drunk Iron Man...                                or            Gambit aka 'Captain Abs'

I remember the chaos, the bedlam, the outrage I caused on a school trip when I dared pass up a cassette of a favourite band of mine to the front of the bus. You would have thought I had sneaked the sounds of burning kittens being stomped on with the frenetic fury I caused. I think the coach load of cool kids only stomached half of 'Give it Away' by a little known group called The Red Hot Chili Peppers (Blood Sugar Sex Magic) before the cassette was literally flung back at me. Strangely enough it must have been a teacher who lobbed it back at my head since we know all the cool kids have to sit at the back of the bus. All thirty eight of them wedged into the five seats at the back like a bunch of awesome sardines. With their shirts untucked. The only way they would have been cooler is if they'd somehow got that bench in there.

Nope, I still don't get it...

In retrospect being a nerd these days is more about having exceptional knowledge or enthusiasm for a particular subject as opposed to what that actual subject is. Whether it be Harry Potter or the Twilight series, fans accept the label 'nerd' or 'geek' proudly.

If you are being kind enough to read this just think of yourself for a minute. Has there been an instance where you've kept a hobby or an interest a secret because of what it was?

Does this help?

My name is Alex Andrews, and I was a tabletop gamer. I used to collect and paint Warhammer miniatures. I still would if I had the time to make the most of it. I also have a massive Dungeons and Dragons-esque board game 'Descent' that no one will play with me. I have encyclopedic knowledge of the entire Marvel universe, I have the complete collection of the Dragonball Z Manga (as well as countless others) and a toy collection (still mint on card, of course) that would make the 40 Year Old Virgin blush with embarrassment.  On top of this I have managed to flirt with a number of other Nerd topics (I'm even giving it it's own capital letter now) such as I understand the danger of wearing a red shirt on an away missions, that muggles will never understand us, I know Jon Snow knows nothing and that all your base are belong to us. That last sentence is meant to read like that - I promise. I do confess that I haven't got my head round it all and never expect to, there just isn't enough wibbly wobbly, timey wimey for that.

I'm actually rather enjoying the fact that so much uncool stuff is now cool and it could be argued that Nerd and Geek-chic have now been absorbed into popular culture to such a degree that the whole terminology has been turned on it's head.  

It's actually tougher to be a nerd now because what was once a hobby that caused social segregation is now everyone's hobby. Of course there will always be the hardcore few that will read this and decry me as not a real Nerd which is probably true to a point. Maybe I'm a 'jack of all nerds' - I love a good Geek out session on all sorts, from cult films, obscure games and different musical tastes but I acknowledge that I'm small time compared to some. I've gone to Film and Comic-cons but never dressed up as Princess Leia  (now there's a thought), I can talk to girls but think being married by guy dressed as He-Man is a step too far. Getting married to a guy dressed as He-Man, well - long as the Leia costume thing pans out, who knows?

While doing a little research on this it did confirm a hierarchy of sorts, there is a cracking flow chart below that it doing the rounds on the internet, check it out below and see where you stand. 

So in summary, I am now very proud to consider myself somewhat of a nerd.  I would love to think that in my ways I have been somewhat of a trend setter, able to make things 'cool' by sheer perseverance and my own magnetism.  The truth I think is more the case of me just being so stuck in my ways there was bound to be a time when the things I was into came around as being trendy.  In the same manner as my father never changed his style of hair, always saying that fashion will come around and it will be trendy again.  I laughed at him for years for that but technically the Beatles then Oasis proved his point eventually.

An instance of the more things change, the more they stay the same.

It often heartens me to see the passion and love displayed in pursuit of being fully immersed in peoples chosen field of  geek.  I'm sure the internet has been an overriding factor in this, allowing people who might have been cultural/interest islands previously to join together and form bigger co-joined states (Continents, to expand the metaphor, maybe?) in which the strength in numbers gives legitimacy. The validity has always been there, perhaps it was simply harder to see before the dawn of the digital age literally put everyone on the same page?

Of course, I understand that this is just one mans perspective through the narrow course of his own timeline and life. I'm sure that this is not the case for everyone but I think most people would agree that there has been a lot of progression in this direction.  It does leave me at a little bit of a loss though: Is there anything left out that people feel the burning need to keep undisclosed? I should maybe add a disclaimer that I'm not talking about true deviancy (put the goat, the carrot and the desk-lamp down and back away from the garlic sauce) but has the actual scope of Nerdism (yeah, lets make that an actual word) grown so large it accommodates everything that once was niche or is there still a perceived stigma on some levels? Conversely, what of those self styled cool kids I knew at school? Do they remember or recognise the change in patterns or is it something as simple as changing themselves so as just to fit in and remain trendy? Would they be happy with being labelled a geek or nerd now? Football may be as popular as ever but it's still not something one would associate with 'Nerding' out to. In actual fact there a plenty of other names and labels applied to fanatical football supporters and I would go out of my way to distance myself from from the majority of them.

Being a geek and an X-men fan I also wondered if there should be a way of describing the Nerd and Geek culture as an offshoot of mankind like mutants were referred to as Homo Superior as opposed to Homo Sapiens (Man the wise). The best I could come up with was Homo Exterus which (dodgy translation aside) should mean Man the Outsider. Have I just created a whole new level, looking to create a Nerd name for the Geeks? If so then I am proud of the monster I have become.  

I look forward to seeing where the evolution of nerd/geek/popular culture takes us and I am sincerely relieved to see that the segregation and isolation because of an enthusiastic interest is becoming less and less. Let's not forget our roots though, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who have suffered for their devotion. Think of all the Atomic Wedgies that have been taken in the name of Nerdom. 

Thank you for your sacrifice, long may the up rise continue.

This actually happened.