JP
Dear Geeks Who Shall Not Be Named,
I’ve talked about the geek trend here on SlashGear before. In fact, I’ve been primarily acting in defense of nerds in general, being that I am one. But there’s one thing I can’t stand: the geek that gives the rest of us a bad name.
You know what I’m talking about before I even describe them, don’t you? These are the nerds that take it all a little too seriously. The ones that have no sense of humor. The ones that devote hours upon hours to playing D&D. No wait, I take that back. There’s nothing wrong with D&D. But if you dress up in costume and adopt a British accent while play sword fighting, well, I have a problem with that.
Because you see, these are the geeks that make all of us mildly socially awkward tech-nerds lumped in with the over-the-top crazies. From the outside, we all look the same. And while the admitted nerds that are self-aware try to dial back the geekiness just a bit, the super nerds swoop in and undo all of our hard work.
There’s nothing at all wrong with being nerdy or geeky. But if you feel the compulsion to relay the release dates for all the next video game releases to random strangers, or you have the incontrollable urge to tell others about your level 70 Blood Elf Hunter, please, please control yourself. Us nerds have a hard enough time as it is. Your random geeky outbursts don’t make it any easier.
Regards,
Brenda
6 Responses to “An Open Letter: The Geeks that Give Us a Bad Name”
Proud Geek August 8, 2008
An Open Letter: The Geek that Gives Us a Bad Name
Dear Geek Who Shall Not Be Named (Brenda),
I am a proud geek, and have been all of my life. I frequent many websites that try to provide people with “tech news”, and there’s one type of person that writes for these sites that I can’t stand. The ones that give geeks everywhere a bad name.
These geeks proudly talk down about other geeks for doing things like play D&D or cosplay because they find it demeaning for some reason. They even go so far as to emplore that we stop doing the very things that make us geeks. Sure, you can write about your news and give your opinion, but when you start writing open letters to the geeks of the world telling them that what they do is giving everyone like you a bad name, well, I have a problem with that.
You see, these are the kind of people that cower behind their monitors and keyboards and so kindly talk down to others simply because they have a title on a website. They think that this gives them some kind of soap box to talk down to the very people that visit their site. To the non-geeks that happen to read the site, it makes us all sound not only like socially awkward tech-nerds but like elitests with a chip on our shoulder.
There’s nothing wrong with being a geek, or writing for a tech news site. But if you feel the compulsion to condemn the masses for doing something that might somehow make you look bad, please control yourself. Us geeks have a hard enough time as it is. our random elitest outbursts don’t make it any easier.
Regards,
A Proud Geek
PS. Did you really just tell geeks to control their geeky outbursts? I think you need a reality check lady, because you are not a geek.
-3Donna Simmons August 8, 2008
Lighten up Proud Geek. Brenda was being humorous. We need this kind of laugh once in a while.
+2Mike Donovan August 8, 2008
I’m sure we’re all confident and proud of our geekdom to the point where we don’t need to include our names in comments to reconfirm this in ourselves.
I agree with Donna, you (proud geek) really need to take a deep breath and realign and take a humorous look at the group you claim you’re apart of. If you can’t take a joke or opinion without jumping mad then you can turn in your horn-rimmed glasses now.
By the way, before you go ranting off and make this comment “You see, these are the kind of people that cower behind their monitors and keyboards and so kindly talk down to others simply because…” I would really expect you to man/woman up and come out of hiding from behind your screen and keys. At least she’s using a real name.
Hey Brenda I’m not forgetting about you! Keep it up, you have became a great new addition here and it’s about time the same old same old gets stirred up once in awhile.
Regards
Mike
p.s. Hey Brenda! You’re welcome to my DnD group any time!
+3Bill Kervaski August 8, 2008
Geek is the new “cool”. I think what you’re referring to is still aptly labeled “Nerd”.
NeutralNeal Campbell August 8, 2008
I’m with Bill Kervaski. There is a Geek/Nerd distinction. Geeks are passionate enthusiasts or experts. There are are tech geeks, film geeks, music geeks, linux geeks and the list goes on and on. Nerds go further into the realm of obsession.
Or at least, that’s the way I’ve arranged it in my brain so that I can feel better about myself.
+1An angry Brit Nerd August 10, 2008
Are you insinuating that there is something wrong with a British accent?
+4