Stuff on Nerds

I am a nerd.

Go ahead, let out your gasps of surprise.

I'll wait.

I get called a nerd all the time, usually in a joking way. It's pretty funny most of the time, but sometimes it hits a nerve. And that got me thinking, is being called a nerd a bad thing? Is it a good thing? Is it both?

What exactly /is/ a nerd?

Nerds are passionate.

I love film. I love watching it, talking about it, dissecting it, it's all a blast. It's something I'm extremely passionate about. I've told my friends before, "Just stop me whenever, because I could go on for hours."  Talking about how film is our dream share technology, or the imagery of the last battle scene of Gladiator, or the process that went into Indiana Jones' costume, is all something I greatly enjoy. I'm getting jitters just writing about it.

Being passionate isn't a bad thing, not even close. Plenty of people are passionate, but that doesn't necessarily make them nerds.

Would I call one of the many teenage boys in the south who are *extremely* passionate about their trucks nerds?

Uhhh. No.

Nerds take passion a step further.

Nerds are obsessed.

I finished all six seasons, all 118 episodes, of Lost in two months. I couldn't stop, I was completely obsessed. Still am, in fact. It sucked up all my free time. I ate, breathed, and lived Lost.

Part of being obsessed is wanting to share that obsession with others. I can't even imagine how annoyed my friends were with my Lost obsession during those two months. I can just imagine, "Oh boy, here he goes AGAIN."

But part of being obsessed with something, is having this strong desire to share it. We want everyone to be obsessed with us! We think others are missing out, and that by telling them about this thing we're obsessed over, we're doing them a service.

(Just as a side note, I have successfully gotten four people to start watching Lost, and I am not ashamed.)

But yet again, nerds take being obsessed a step further.

Nerds are intelligent.

Nerds are obsessed to the point of wanting to know everything. When Marvel announced they were doing a Guardians of the Galaxy movie at Comic-Con last year, I spent the next three hours Googleing everything I could about the Guardians. Just so as soon as someone asks "Who or what are the Guardians of the Galaxy," I had an answer for them.

Why? Because I wanted them to go see the movie.

Why? Because I'm obsessed.

Why? Because I'm passionate.

It's a chain, it's all connected.

So all this a bad thing?

John Green, the author of the recent best-selling novel, The Fault in our Stars, said this, "Why is being a nerd bad? Saying I notice you’re a nerd is like saying, ‘Hey, I notice that you’d rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you’d rather be thoughtful than be vapid, that you believe that there are things that matter more than the arrest record of Linsey Lohan. Why is that?”

No, being a nerd isn't a bad thing at all! In fact, I, personally, take it as a compliment.

Bill Gates takes it one step further, "Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one."

The problem starts when the nerds take it to the extreme.

Nerds are arrogant.

"I do find some of the meanest, most exclusionary people are the nerds. And they rebel against other nerds! What are you doing? As much as I love nerds and the nerd movement, the nerd-on-nerd violence is really bad. A lot of times, nerds are the meanest ones online. And also, the trolling can be very extensive because they're smart. I've gone from being bullied by jocks as a kid to being bullied by nerds as an adult." - Chris Hardwick. 

I think Chris hits the nail on the head. I've noticed this in myself, when someone gets some piece of information wrong, I'm very quick to correct them. Especially when it's something I'm passionate about. 

That's when being called a nerd is an insult.

So I'll end my stuff on nerds with a quote from The Doctor. (Aka Matt Smith) 

“I think, that if the world were a bit more like Comic-Con, it would be a better place.”