Nerds getting a bad rap?

[OtakuJolyn]

Hey guys,

 

As much as I love shows like the Big Bang Theory and King of the Nerds, I feel like these types of shows may be helping, but also hindering, society's look upon geek/nerd culture. Like most TV shows (or other media), we probably come away with some type of stereotypes based on what we see or read about.

 

Do you think that media is portraying geek/nerd culture in a good way? Do you have any other examples of good/bad stereotyping? What do you think?

 

[Laney]

I think it's stupid to try to put a face on "nerd culture". Check out the nerd tag on Instagram or Twitter. It's like "Got glasses, LOL I'M A NERD" or "Doing homework, lul #nerd #lyfe".

 

Seriously, being a nerd has nothing to do with wearing glasses or doing homework, I know plenty of nerds (okay, geeks I suppose) that aren't exactly the sharpest bulb on the tree. Geek/nerd subculture is about what you enjoy, not about what you're wearing or your IQ. Like personally, if you saw me at the grocery store you would never think "what a nerd", and you'd probably not think that if you saw me piss drunk at an anime convention. You want to argue about which class is the best in WoW or which Mortal Kombat was the best, then you'll understand. 

[minderly]

That instagram nerd tag you posted...very disappointing...96% on a biology test is not nerd ._. 105% I'd accept.

But you're right, it's not about being smart or school oriented. I don't think it's only about gaming or anime either though. I like both, but I think it's all about the scifi/fantasy that makes me identify with nerds. Even that isn't completely what a nerd is though...I feel it (gaming, anime, scifi) is a large part of nerd...but it's just a general attitude in life.

[Laney]

Yeah, some of those pictures make me cringe. I guess it's hard for me to say what being a "nerd" really is, but I've always been different and maybe that's what it's all about. If you don't fit in with anyone else, you're always welcome here

[OtakuJolyn]

I remember stumbling upon a debate/poll thing, where it asked; "What's the difference between a Geek/Nerd?". A lot of people basically said that a nerd is more knowledgeable/masters in the science, math and history aspects. While a geek is more computers, fantasy, fandoms, and gaming aspects.

 

 

That instagram nerd tag you posted...very disappointing...

But you're right, it's not about being smart or school oriented. ...

...(but) it's just a general attitude in life.

 

I also agree. That hashtag was a bit saddening, also being nerdy isn't always about smarts. It's just a part of society/life.

I am reminded of the Fake Geek Girl Meme... god...
if I wish something to never happen it would be the Fake Geek Girl stereotypes!

[Thilde]

I think no matter what, stereotypes are going to happen...it's human nature to seek patterns.  That's how our brains function.  Not being aware of the stereotypes or seeking to uproot them where they are inaccurate is where I think we encounter problems.  Acceptance of stereotypes leads to assumptions, and we all know what happens when we assume...  
 
I actually feel like geeks and nerds are huge in culture right now.  I mean, this is our time.  Tech is all the rage, gaming is everywhere, cons are exploding, people are reading fiction like whoa, etc. etc. etc.  Of course, I could be biased...I am a huge nerd who immerses herself in learning about all the awesome things nerds are doing in the world right now.    So maybe nerds are getting a bad rap among non-nerds and I'm just clueless....
 
Somewhat related - I LOVE THIS and this is how I define geek/nerd in my head.  Doesn't matter what the subject/content is...it's the enthusiasm that is what makes you one of us.  

(source)

[Nomad Jay]

I could write an entire essay on this topic and others much smarter than I could write a doctoral thesis.

 

As with other unofficial/counter/non-mainstream subcultures in human history, the cultures of "nerd", "geek", "nerdy-geek", and "geeky-nerds" have been adopted by the mainstream without a complete understanding of that culture*. Folks, for a variety of reasons, take on the percieved stereotypical affectations (in our case glasses, study sessions, preferring the original Star Wars triology to the new one) and think that's all there is to it. Like wanna-be social activists who buy Che Guevera shirts at Hot Topic (or wherever they're sold now) or suburban high-schoolers who think they're "thug" because they have a nice car and once smoked some weed, the pseudogeeks are trying to be a part of something that they don't really understand mostly because it's different. People latch on to our "otherness" (for reasons I can't comprehend) but they don't want to put in the effort to understand us.

 

On the other hand, techno-geeks built the systems that run our infrastructure. The Internet is run by people like us, with intatiably curious minds, who obsess over minute details and relentlessly hunt down obscure pieces of information. Modern video-games are becoming a synthesis of art, storytelling, and immersive technical detail. The stereotypcially geeky obsession with effects of random events on historically-derived statistics has translated over into the fantasy sports leagues. Watchmen, of all things got, made into a movie. To quote Leverage, "Age of the geek, baby. We rule the world."

 

In response to the OP:

1) I can't speak directly to King of the Nerds, but I'll direct you to Penny Arcade's commentary on the topic.

2) Big Bang Theory, for all its flaws, is the closest I'll ever get to a show about my kind of people. I know a lot of people like that. Hell, a lot of days, I am people like that. To borrow a line from The Onion it's the only fiction show I can think of that could even attempt to do an extended riff on the novel Flatland.

 

*One can make a valid arguement that those in the culture don't really understand it completely either, but that's for Cory Doctrow to write about.

[Laney]

Sambie, I love that quote! Thanks for sharing

 

@Nomad: Big Bang Theory is awesome, all the awkward moments...  I really don't understand why someone would try to wedge themselves into nerdom when they don't even understand what being a nerd is all about. From what I remember, being a nerd didn't make you cool, just thinking about that hurts my head.

[Nomad Jay]

@Laney: Big Bang Theory is a great show, one of my favorites, but I can understand why people such as the OP might not like it....Yeah, I don't really understand why someone who's not already a nerd would want to be a nerd, but I do observe it happening. It's like they think we have some secret wisdom that will make their lives better. Then they realize that we're all functionally nuts and pull back. Or perhaps I read too much in to things. That's been known to happen.

[I-Jo]

I can't stand the big bang theory.  I hate it.  I find it insipid and practically refuse to watch it after seeing two episodes. I thought it was awful- and I have some pretty tragic taste in shows/movies. 

[Teros]

g/f loves big bang theory but I don't like it.  It's all funny when laughing at sheldon but not when you ARE sheldon =/ 

[re-animator]

I haven't seen King of the Nerds and have only seen Big Bang Theory once (I just don't like sitcoms.)

I find it interesting how it's more acceptable and almost attractive to be a "nerd" these days. I also find it weird how it almost seems like now there's certain things you have to be or do in order to be a nerd, and if you don't conform to those ideals, you're branded a false nerd; forgive me if I'm wrong but didn't nerd used to be a catch-all phrase for someone whose interests didn't match with the norm?

[JonDixonYT]

To me, geeks and nerds were always people that were passionate about something that didn't already have a label.  Sports nerds are jocks.  Car nerds are motor heads.  LARP nerds are nerds.  That's just how I always saw it.  Just my two cents though.

[Irish Oisin]

I love Big Bang Theory, it has classic sitcom humour and scenarios and then pure nerd humour and physics jokes, that are pretty funny, I think it has the perfect balance!

 

The wearing glasses and claiming you're a nerd though, fuck off! I am sick of seeing teenagers take the lenses out of 3D glasses for the cinema and wearing the black frames and saying "Oh, I'm such a nerd!". Good gravy, you watch the kardashians, you don't do anything remotely nerdy, wearing plastic frames is just...stupid. It's because nerd culture and geek-chic became popular, so magazines and tv shows had models dress up as nerds and it gave impressionable teenagers the idea that "nerd" and "geek" were just another fashion tag do dress up as.

 

I get called a nerd because of my interest/intense passion for Star Trek, Comic Book, Doctor Who etc etc etc, but I also play sports that are really jock-like, and I go hiking and enjoy working with my hands (Like a lot of people on this site) and those activities aren't considered nerdy. I like to have a balance of all of these things because I'm passionate about life, if thee's something interesting to experience or enjoy or be part of, I want that!

 

Oh...and I cried after Star Trek...in the cinema...because it was so good...and treated the source material with such love and respect.

[minderly]

[Kishi]

 

...

 

oh, dammit.

 

If all hipsters like things before they are cool, and all nerds were nerds before it was cool to be nerdy, are all nerds hipsters?

 

You guys. YOU GUYS.

[Irish Oisin]

Actually, as you can see from my profile picture, I used to wear glasses, and I always wore distinctive frames, because if I was wearing glasses, I was WEARING glasses. I ALWAYS got asked if I needed glasses to which I would answer "What kind of wanker wears glasses if they don't need them?!"

or the amount of women, and only women, who would grab them off my face and put them on and sometimes get their friends to take pictures of them wearing them.

 

That used to really piss me off. Some women even tried to steal them. Prescription glasses. I swear, the youth of the world disappoints me.

[UberTumbleweed]

g/f loves big bang theory but I don't like it.  It's all funny when laughing at sheldon but not when you ARE sheldon =/ 

 

Not everyone agrees.  I love The Big Bang Theory.  I love sitcoms with jokes I think are funny, and before TBBT, it had been years since a sitcom with my style of jokes had been on air.

 

Someone once moved the cushion off MY spot in the dorm common room, and I sat on 30 different couch cushions until I found the one with the right butt-feeling of MY spot's cushion and put it back.  It took me half an hour, and we couldn't watch our movie till I'd fixed my spot.  That was 2 years before TBBT came on TV.

 

I laugh at Sheldon and his couch spot all the time, because it's just like me.  But then again, I think I'm funny and awesome, even if I'm a total asshole sometimes.