tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post6751152766588980452..comments2024-03-24T00:16:17.304-07:00Comments on Storming the Ivory Tower: Not Proud To Be A GeekSam Keeperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00863236889998956170noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-82006452098473492622018-05-21T01:26:16.148-07:002018-05-21T01:26:16.148-07:00Since the advent of the whole Zoe Quinn/Gamergate ...Since the advent of the whole Zoe Quinn/Gamergate thing I have been the focus of a relentless and merciless bullying campaign that has lead to me being physically assaulted on several occasions and lead to any love I may of had for being a gamer being long gone. I spoke out against bullying and I made myself a target by a group of trolls from a subreddit called gamerghazi. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-89344593472022687752014-07-04T01:09:00.188-07:002014-07-04T01:09:00.188-07:00Maybe all this is a lesson about how people should...Maybe all this is a lesson about how people shouldn't label themselves based on the media they consume.The MGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-66195134472829673982014-01-13T08:44:55.273-08:002014-01-13T08:44:55.273-08:00This is so much my own thoughts. My own disillusio...This is so much my own thoughts. My own disillusionment with what was once something I was proud to be. I'm ashamed of my fellow geeks. I've been questioning my own identity: if I hate what geek has become can I still be a geek? If I'm not a geek, the thing I have been since middle school in the late 90's, what am I? <br /><br />I would like to retake geek, to redeem what was once mine but taken by mainstream and corrupted to be something appalling. I want my identity back. I want to take pride in the things I love, without fearing the association with the dregs of humanity. Jedihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09024613970161080781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-45327637229133994662014-01-03T21:18:39.637-08:002014-01-03T21:18:39.637-08:00I suppose this sort of trend is typical of any und...I suppose this sort of trend is typical of any underdog culture that suddenly finds itself in the position of top dog. (I could probably make a sex pun there) Keeping with the puns and the word "geek", Imperial Japan and the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere is a good example. Revolutionaries and reformers from around Asia came to Japan to study how they could transform their own countries into prosperous, democratic modern powers. As soon as Japan attained a level of real power though, they did the exact same thing they demonized the western powers for doing, and colonized the ever-loving poop out of SE Asia.<br />I'm sure this noble aspirations as an underdog -> oppressive top dog transformation can be found in any number of communities- governments and subcultures both.TPmanWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08415910295872695542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-66185779361665403862013-09-16T12:33:10.111-07:002013-09-16T12:33:10.111-07:00thank you so much for this post!thank you so much for this post!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12794922078924356940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-70380760483995164322013-08-23T14:01:25.946-07:002013-08-23T14:01:25.946-07:00Are you confusing things that once were geeky with...Are you confusing things that once were geeky with things that now are not? just a little bit? <br /><br />And besides what is geeky really? I have thought of it as when a person are enjoying and spending A LOT of time on a particular subject that the majority sees as something odd to spend so much time on.<br /><br />One reason why they think it is odd is of course that there are relatively few people that are spending much time at that subject(if at all).<br /><br />Here's an example of something:<br />Playing videogames would then be a thing that is not a nerdy thing to do anymore(at least not where I come from) but many are still calling it nerdy because it has been called that for a long time because it was that for a long time. <br /><br />But this means that the meaning of the word nerd is changing or really, already has changed more or less. So being a nerd doesn't seem to mean that your'e an outcast anymore... at least not in the same sense.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05891070556802539227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-24708460398025242872013-08-14T22:42:23.806-07:002013-08-14T22:42:23.806-07:00This is everything I have ever felt about geek cul...This is everything I have ever felt about geek culture. I will gladly join your movement.Moganhttp://facebook.com/moganmoganmogannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-62979874415751945732013-08-13T04:35:08.327-07:002013-08-13T04:35:08.327-07:00(continuation)
I suspect that this particular si...(continuation)<br /><br /><br />I suspect that this particular sickness is temporary. I won't say that I'm fully convinced, though. Geekdom has always had two clearly delineated currents: a progressive, novelty-driven current and a regressive, escapist current. Fights between these currents have popped up notably in the context of science fiction fandom over and over: in the 1960s, devotees of 1930s-1950s utopian competence-porn and space opera were terribly offended by 'new wave' SF (a blanket term for pretty much every subversively non-utopian thing then appearing on the market, including everybody from Harlan Ellison to PKD), because compared to the now-formulaic utopian space opera form, things like Ubik and Shattered Like a Glass Goblin come off as confusing and grim; in the 1980s, the descendents of New Wave SF had to some extent become parts of various standardized formulae (although the originals, much like original Lovecraft, still feel pretty fresh), and cyberpunk shook things up by throwing away the Apple-store aesthetic, focusing on the unexpected glitches, and more or less ignoring outer space (all very revolutionary ideas in a genre where for thirty years the prevailing meme had been that the future would be smooth, uniform, and more or less featureless, and that even the ruins of future civilizations would more closely resemble complete megalithic and inhumanly-scaled fascist architecture than shantytowns, and that furthermore widespread colonization of outer space is ten years away and will be interesting enough to justify and overshadow any other technical or social advancements). The novelty contigent tends to be angry out of concern, and builds some very aggressive structures (the Italian Futurist movement began as a systematized refusal of victorian boredom, but gave birth to large chunks of fascist ideology -- which, obviously, appeals primarily to a regressive instinct and is in no way equitable), but even as the novelty contingent produces the structures of future oppression, it tears down the old structures. Science fiction adopted libertarianism back when it was radical and novel, and those same books now look dated and retrogressive; likewise with communism (which was both lauded and refuted in science fiction before ever being attempted).<br /><br />In other words, while geekdom will survive this, in twenty years we will see the rise of yet another completely novel form of bigotry. We will never be able to stop fighting our own shadows, but that makes things easier: we know that if we think we can stop fighting, we're actually just giving up.John Ohnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11352441770252592928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-29696229974984002422013-08-13T04:34:44.251-07:002013-08-13T04:34:44.251-07:00@AlliedBrains, there are plenty of non-assholes wh...@AlliedBrains, there are plenty of non-assholes who will take your suggested route and act as allies within the community. It's completely legitimate for someone being actively excluded to leave a community, even to the community's detriment (since, after all, it isn't their responsibility), and it's also legitimate to take up the mantle of saving one.<br /><br />I doubt there will be an exodus. For one, 'geek' really has become mainstream (and insanely profitable), so for every person who abandons the label, two more will be minted by a corporation. This isn't inherently a bad thing (the churn makes it kind of difficult to make this kind of change, but it's just a more extreme version of the same thing that's been going on for ages -- how many geeks haven't in some sense been manufactured by some capitalist franchise or corporation? LucasFilm, DC, Marvel, and Nintendo are all for-profit media corporations... it's just that now that it's been proven easily extensible, more corporations are getting into the game in a bigger way). Some of the next generation of geeks probably won't have internalized the outsider nature as much, and won't be so exclusionary or reactionary as a result (although this is highly dependent upon the use of media internally to project a self-image -- take a look at how many middle-american evangelical christians believe themselves a persecuted minority, or for that matter how many atheists do! Being mainstream for three or four generations in no way necessitates feeling mainstream.) Also, many people are very attached to the label.<br /><br />(continued in next comment)John Ohnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11352441770252592928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-64473792260157717032013-07-26T09:03:14.785-07:002013-07-26T09:03:14.785-07:00Every one of these concerns is legitimate, and I a...Every one of these concerns is legitimate, and I agree with pretty much everything that you and previous commenters have said. Geek culture is getting toxic, and part of that comes from it moving to the mainstream--though the fact that it thrives on faceless internet forums doesn't help.<br /><br />In any case, I only have one objection to your post: that you're choosing to not call yourself Geek any more. Because what this does is leave the word in the hands of the assholes.<br /><br />I propose instead that the tolerant and empathetic geeks hang onto the word, while continuing to bring awareness to the problems you address. I've noticed a lot of dialogue on these problems lately--maybe geeks can be the good guys again some day. Otherwise, all we'll end up doing is creating a new word, which by definition will be defined by the people who it does not include.<br /><br />Wiling to hear opposing arguments, though.AMemesToAnEndhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11041001545869035047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-37429384308599610662013-07-24T09:02:08.021-07:002013-07-24T09:02:08.021-07:00This reminds me a lot of the conversations on the ...This reminds me a lot of the conversations on the Pathfinder boards.<br /><br />Those boards are pretty awesome but the gay/female/in-some-way-'other' threads are a mess.<br /><br />What is interesting is the amount of people who<br />- know that racism is bad.<br />- kind of get the idea that homophobia is bad but still think homophobia is just, y'know, like, an opinion. That it is legitimate but a bit distasteful.<br />- don't think that society has any misogyny and anyone who mentions gender is trying to stir things up and grab some kind of false, unearned advantage over men.<br /><br />The lack of awareness on geek circles of the truth which Archbishop Desmond Tutu contiues to profess - that homophobia is apartheid thinking, that all discrimination is apartheid thinking - is pretty shameful.<br /><br />But... that's also part of the mainstream and I think a lot of these problems stem from geekdom's move to the mainstream.<br /><br />People who feel like outsiders, who share the outsiders fear, empathise with other outsiders.<br /><br />Geeks in the crowd for Pacific Rim, cracking Gandalf jokes and making Star Wars references while checking their portable computers (iphones), are not outsiders.<br /><br />Geeks are on the inside looking out. And some of us are pointing and laughing.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01946810381823851009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-60066861719072712612013-07-24T02:44:28.318-07:002013-07-24T02:44:28.318-07:00Wow, I know I'm late to the party but this was...Wow, I know I'm late to the party but this was just really well done. I've never seen anyone else so eloquently state my own problems with geek culture. This especially hit home because I have been guilty of some of these behaviors. Especially, the shutting down of discourse by exclaiming "If you don'y like it then why are you on this forum!" That kind of crap is something I am trying to break the habit of falling into. So, thanks. This was a wonderful piece to read.BlastOffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02818518391615347623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56230747868041478.post-71642625599845409812013-07-23T11:35:10.168-07:002013-07-23T11:35:10.168-07:00your site is awesome!your site is awesome!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com