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opinion@technewsiit.com

TechNews | Tuesday, October23, 2012

     

‘Nerd elitism' conveys passion, disconnect

By Ryan Kamphuis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Those of you who know me know
that many words can be used to describe
me. Some would call me an Androidefane
boy, others would call me a Whovian, some
would see me and refer to me as a Trekkie,
and still others would call me everything
from a Redditor to a Browncoat. But despite
all of these different labels for who I am, they
all fall under one umbrella label that has
been with me since I first learned to talk and
first started to interact with others: nerd.

When we look at the world around
us, it’s a good time to be a nerd. We live in an
increasingly technological world. All around
us people use things like smartphones and
tablets to use services like Facebook and
Twitter to keep in touch with their friends
and family all around the world. The world
we live in is amazing, and almost everyone
realizes that the reason the world we live in
is so cool is because ofthe nerds who created
it. Almost every company that defines the
world we live in today was started by a few
nerds in a garage, dorm room, or parent’s
house; Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook,
and Dell all claim this as their genesis. Socie
ety revels nerds and holds them high. Nerds
are seen as cool, and pillars of nerd culture
that were once thought to be the lamest of
lame, like comic books, science fiction, and
robotics, all enjoy mainstream popularity.

It wasn’t always like this though. I
remember being ostracized by my peers in
elementary school. I remember eating alone
in the cafeteria every day, being pointed and
laughed at, and being mocked. It sucked, but
I remember that through all of this, there
was one point of solace for myself and my
friends. It was an often quoted line by Bill
Gates, who was at the time the richest man in
the world. The quote was, “be nice to nerds.
Chances are you’ll end up working for one.”
In that line, which was later confirmed to
never have been spoken by Bill Gates, rested
our hopes; our hopes that one day we would
all be company owners who could hire those
who once mocked us and have the last laugh.
We would be able to do it because we were
smarter and had more drive than them. And
we would make them pay. This quote wasn’t
just a point of solace for my small group of
friends 7 it quickly became a battle call for
nerd culture. Almost every nerd who grew
up in the 90s heard that quote, took it to
heart, and thought like I did. But as we all
got older, we became more realistic. We still
thought that we would be leaders in the new,
technological world, but the revenge over,
tones all but went away; except for a few.

When we return to the present day
where nerd culture is mainstream culture,
there is something becoming more prevae
lent that I truly despise, and that is the idea
of nerd elitism. It is the idea that nerds are
better than others, and because of this, they
can judge those who aren’t into what they
are into, or people who are trying to get into
something new. You can see it all over. When
people try to get into something nerds love
like Doctor Who, Firefly, Lord ofthe Rings,
or Star Wars, there are always groups of
nerds who will not accept these newcomers.
They will turn them away saying that these
newcomers are late, or not good enough, or
not true nerds. And there is something very
wrong about this, the chief being: this is not
how nerd culture is supposed to work! In
the end, being a nerd really just boils down
to one being passionate about something.
John Green, a New York Times Bestselling
Author summarizes it well by saying, “nerds
like us are allowed to be uneironically en,
thusiastic about stuff... Nerds are allowed
to love stuff, like jumpeupeandedowneine
theechairecan’tecontroleyourself love it.
Hank [Iohn’s brother, who this line is
addressed to], when people call people
nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you
like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult

at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about
the miracle of human consciousness.” Being
a nerd is all about being passionate about
something, which means anyone can be
a nerd. This idea that you somehow have

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy ofqnickmeme.com

to “prove” yourself or that you had to have
been a nerd before it was cool to be accepted
as nerd is completely asinine. For decades,
nerds have been accepting of everyone who
was passionate about what they were; its a
complete 180 degree turn from how nerd
culture works to suddenly become selective
once it became popular.

That is the other problem with this
mentality of nerd elitism: it is no different
from the mentality of those who once bullied
us. We were bullied at one point in time be,
cause what we were into was lame, but now
that we are popular, we have no excuse to do
the same. In fact, we should be showing how

QUEE'IUB IIIIBIIY PMTEII
DU SHOWING AT 9AM.

awesome nerd culture is by being receptive
of everyone. I don’t know where this idea
of nerd elitism came from, but ten bucks
says it has roots in that “Bill Gates quote.”
Too many nerds have looked to that quote
for support, and now use
it as a tool of division. Too
many nerds think that that
quote gives them superior,
ity 7 that since one day, eve
eryone will be working for
nerds, nerds must be better,
and the fact that nerds are
better than everyone else
must be preserved. But this
couldn’t be further from
the truth. Yes, people may
end up working for nerds,
but this isn’t because nerds
are fundamentally better
people. It’s because nerds
are passionate, and when
one is passionate, they have
drive. And when one has
drive, one can work to do
anything. Being a nerd isn’t
about being smart. It isn’t
about being weird. It isn’t
even about being into come
ic books, World of Warcraft, or H.P. Love,
craft. Being a nerd is about being passionate,
or, as John Green says, “being uneironically
enthusiastic about stuff.” Anyone can be a
nerd, and everyone should be a nerd. We
should all have that one thing that we are so
excited about that we want to find a group of
friends to talk about and go to conventions
for it with. If you are really into football and
watch the game with your buddies every
Sunday, (I hate to break it to you) you are
a nerd! And as a nerd, other nerds should
always be welcoming. Because being a nerd
isn’t about being better than others 7 it’s all
about sharing something with others.

 

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