So I got to thinking the other day .. I love blogging about the geekiness I find online, and after reviewing the traffic that I have gotten on the site over the last few months, it would seem that at least a few of you enjoy reading about the geekiness I find online.
Blog traffic is a very sought after commodity. It establishes credibility, let’s face it, no one at i09.com is really all that knowledgable about sciFi, and could they be anymore negative about everything they see? So why do we put faith in what they say??? becuase they get almost a million page views per month …
Same with any of the gawker media portals. Wired, Reuters and other sites have “genuine” journalists who make the real content that ends up disected onto other blogs, so they kind of come with their own credibilty.
This all got me thinking though … who has more credibilty then all of them … WE do…
That’s right, we have the real credibility, becuase we are the unknown masses who give these sites the traffic they need to gain thier credibility. We are the ones who have seen every Star Wars movie 400 times. We are the ones who can quote any episode of Star Trek. We are the ones who can tear down and rebuild a computer in less time then a Green Beret can field strip his m-16. We are the ones who make the geek news, so why shouldn’t we be the ones to report on it.
I want to form a coalition of Geeks. UNKNOWN geeks. Sorry Leo Laporte .. Sorry Tom Merritt .. Sorry Rafe Needleman… I respect you all, but your views are now tainted by the man. I want geeks who answer to no one, who will tell it like it is, and who want to be apart of what could become the largest online geek community with a voice..
If you’re a geek (computer, scifi, science, art, whatever … ) and you want to start contributing to a whole new type of online blog, let me know.
Individually we are nobody, but as a mob… we are force to be reckoned with …
It used to be a way of slamming someone to call them a geek. Then the underground geek community found a welcoming home on the internets, and over time we developed pretty well in the land of computers and chat rooms. Of course, in real life, we were still teased, misunderstood, and generally marginalized.
Now, since we (yes us geeks) did such a good job building, massaging, fixing, tweaking, and geeking the internet the rest of the world has become addicted to the online culture. With that addiction has come a bit of understanding and acceptance of geek culture.
That understanding, and acceptance has also led to the idea that being a geek is kinda cool. This is good in some ways and bad in others. An essential part of being a geek is that you are “outside the mainstream”, so if the mainstream becomes geek.. what does that mean? How do you define geekiness when everyone claims geek status.
I hold to the idea that that question will be answered differently depending on what type of geek you ask. For instance, a sci-fi geek will want to have you be able to answer obscure trivia questions about Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and a computer geek will want you to translate binary without looking online. So, I guess on some levels, this transition to “geek being cool” may just lead to there being another type of geek. “The geek Geeks”. Confused. Yeah, so am I. Let me see if I can explain.
Computer geeks are computer geeks because they obsess about computers. So, a Geek geek, would obsess about geeks. Trying to be one, talking about them, and generally jumping on the recent geek bandwagon. That’s cool, I suppose. As geeks, I have found that we are a fairly tolerant group, except when discussing Star Wars Vs. Star Trek, or which OS is better, so we welcome and embrace this new brand of geeks. It is doubtful that they will hang around the clubhouse for long though.
Culture is a fickle mistress who grabs on hard and then quickly moves on. The Geek geeks are really more of a pop culture phenomenon and over time it will dwindle, leaving us to go back to our SciFi, Computers, Chemistry sets, algorithms and general world problem solving responsibilities. Hopefully maintaining bit of understanding and acceptance from the mainstream culture.
In the end we geeks will always be here, and we will always be making the world a better place, so, embrace your inner geek!
When somebody calls you a geek, don’t quibble about stereotypes, but take it as a compliment.
A few months or so ago, I decided to completely re-embrace my geekness.. I have spent awhile hiding it in the shadows, forcing back shouts of glee when a really cool sci-fi show was advertised, or when a really sexy looking computer was in use at a coffee shop, but those days have come to a close.
I sit here now, with a geek card in my wallet (even though it is not laminated… ), a “work shirt” that has a patch on it that reads geek, and license plates that say ‘geek 2 u’ on them… Overkill, maybe, but I have a lot of geek love to make up for.
What is geek love you ask? Well, if you’re asking, I am not sure why or how you found this site, but in the interest of spreading the news I will explain. A geek, in the past, was considered a person who is odd or peculiar, and especially one who is perceived to be overly intellectual. Technically I would say that this is still true. Most geeks I knew are odd, but in a good way, and society is finally beginning to see that. Not that societies opinion is important, or even relevant for that matter, but is nice to know that we are not subjugated to the computer lab and forever deemed unlovable by the opposite sex anymore.
As a whole, no matter how hard I tried to hide it, most of my friends saw and referred to me as a geek. I am on the speed dial anytime their computer does anything they don’t like, I am the one who knows the date and time when they can watch some particular sci-fi show, and if you need someone who can name the title and season for any Star Trek episode (any spin-off), then yep, I am the one you call.
Now, I can almost hear some of you out there saying… “How did I get on this dorks website?” Well, remember its geek to you… 
You should also remember that times are a changing… Geeks are the new jocks… women love us.. men want to be us .. and don’t even pretend your not jealous when I am sitting in the coffee bar next to you writing a new blog entry on my decked out MacBook Pro, listening to my 80 Gig iPod, and taking calls on my iPhone…
As proof of this change, I refer you to wiki :
The definition of geek has changed considerably over time, and there is no longer a definitive modern meaning. Here are some of the many definitions:
- A person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media. Most geeks are adept with computers, and treat the term hacker as a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves.
- A person who relates academic subjects to the real world outside of academic studies; for example, using multivariate calculus to determine how they should correctly optimize the dimensions of a pan to bake a cake.
- A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.
- A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest. This definition is very broad but because many of these interests have mainstream endorsement and acceptance, the inclusion of some genres as “geeky” is heavily debated. Persons have been labelled as or chosen to identify as mathematics geeks, engineering geeks, sci-fi geeks, computer geeks, various science geeks, movie and film geeks (cinephile), comic book geeks, theatre geeks, history geeks, gamer geeks, music geeks, art geeks, philosophy geeks, and literature/rp geeks
Personally, I lump all us geeks together for the most part… except you band geeks… you have, over time become dweebs, and well, none of us want dweebs around.
Realize that for the most part, I’m being a bit tongue in cheek, but the point is made.
Geeks are here, Geeks are cool, and Geeks aren’t going anywhere… (although we will be unavailable during episodes of Battlestar Galactica, new season starting in March )
So, knowing all of this, start showing your geek love !