Geeks and Nerds: A History (From a certain point of view)
Geeks and nerds have been around for a long time. As the world, technology and culture have changed so have they. However, the way they are defined and stereotyped has not evolved along with them. The terms geeks and nerds are many times used negatively. When someone explains a complex computer issue, the relationship of obscure Star Wars characters, or the travel time between geographic locations in Lord of the Rings, the response is usually the same. “What a Nerd!” “Nerd alert!” “Such a geek!” Or some other variation. Nerds and geeks have been made out to be outcasts and undesirable for many years.
Our Purpose
Here at Geek Mind Fusion, however, we plan on redefining geeks and nerds and helping everyone to know what they are and how we are all geeks and nerds in our own way. This is not a negative thing. We should all embrace our inner geek and embrace everyone else as fellow geeks. We should all be tolerant and accepting of everyone and open to learning about their passions.
Before we get ahead of ourselves let’s define geek and nerd in our terms.
Geek: A person that has above average knowledge and passion for one or more subjects.
Nerd: A person that has above average knowledge and passion for one or more subjects, and also exhibits social ineptitude.
By these definitions, we see that we are all geeks and nerds. If you have a lot of knowledge and passion for Star Wars then you are a Star Wars geek. Those who get excited about it and start explaining the different types of space ships and miss the social cues that the people you’re talking to aren’t interested, you have slipped into being a Star Wars nerd. If you’re knowledge and passion is for sports, then you are a sports geek and can slip into being a sports nerd. By our definitions, you can be a geek or nerd about any subject.
Who you are, is not set in stone
Now, I would like to refer to the Venn diagram above and make the point that we are not stuck at one solitary spot. Rather we’re constantly moving and shifting. Some days I’m a solid Geek, but others I do something socially awkward and I slip into Nerd territory. That is OK. It is natural for your passion to occasionally carry you into the realm of forgetting about social acceptance. However, staying a nerd permanently isn’t healthy and we should strive to have adequate social skills. The ability to be social and share with others who have similar interests makes being a Geek a lot of fun.
So join us in changing the world’s view of geek. Let’s come together and create a community where we accept everyone and celebrate our differences. Men, women, Star Wars geek, sports geek let’s come together. We need to stop letting differences tear us apart. Our differences are what make us special and add spice to life.
Geeks and Nerds Unite
We need to come together as a community. We should create a safe place that we can all come and share our passions. Discrimination based on the passions you have should have no place in this community. This community is what we plan to create. It is up to you to help it grow. We plan to showcase different passions. Make sure that different areas of geekdom get attention. Then we should all take time to check out and learn about different subjects that we don’t know about. All the while having fun.
My team and I are working to build all of this. It will take us some time and you can use help. Like us on Facebook here. That will help you to keep up with all that we are doing. Also, check out our Swag page to see many ways you can help us out. The more help you give us, the easier it will be to get away from our day jobs and put more time and effort into this. Check out our first podcast Dark Knight Minute where we show how we are Batman geeks and break down the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy movies one minute at a time. Keep an eye on our home page for new posts about many different topics that we geek out about. We write about subjects like movies, videogames, travel and more. We will also be working on expanding our posts to different subjects and have several other projects in the pipeline. Some of the things that will be coming soon are our first app, a YouTube series, and another podcast. Thanks for joining us on this journey and we look forward to getting to know you.
-Adam the Creator