Hot Chicks, Nerds, and Some Nonsense About Pandering
Back already? Okay, here we go…
I sincerely and honestly believe there is a word for the nerds and geeks who can’t accept the fact that the line has been blurred between what was once socially acceptable among the “beautiful??? people and what we have long held to be sacred in our little geek hearts. I think we refer to them as “hipsters???.
Yeah, now I have your attention.
The fact is, the line between what’s Popular and what is Geeky isn’t only blurred, it’s nearly gone. It was bound to happen and we, as Geeks, should be applauding the fact that the line is so near to being erased forever.
It wasn’t so long ago that video games were the purview of the Nerd, the Geek, the Dweeb. Roleplaying games were spoke of in hushed tones less the Jocks overhear us and determine it was long past time for the Atomic Wedgie to be visited upon the glass wearing masses. The computer, so long our domain and our solace, was embraced by the masses due to necessity in the workplace rather than a love of the devices.
Now there are video games no true Frat Brother would be without. There are applications for our cell phones that are embraced by the Popular People. Computers are in the hands of the Cool Kids. Some of them even have Macs.
And here we are, the OGs (Original Geeks). We made it all happen. We were the outcasts and the societal lepers and now, we are the Supreme of the Alpha Males, the ones who make it all work, the Rock Stars of the tech world. We talk about a new program and how it works and, where they once yawned and their eyes glazed over, people listen intently and act on our words.
Have doubts about that last bit? Look at the top earners in the Forbes 500 and what do you see? An awful lot of guys who are more than likely intimately familiar with what a Swirlie is due to their experiences in high school.
Now to address the particular point of this article.
It’s no secret that we here at BusyGamer have a distinct love for the ladies. We have a particularly avid interest in those women who can recite the military ranks in the Imperial Startfleet in order of importance and what rank is required to command a Star Destroyer or who know and understand the function and meaning of the various colored rings of the Lantern Corps.
We will also defend, with fervor, any of the ladies on our site about whom anyone says aren’t true geeks. Especially when there are so many definitions of the word even among our own ranks, those of the Geek.
Keep in mind that we made this happen. We produced technology that was of interest to the Popular People. We made the video games that the Cool Kids want to play. And while we did, we talked to them about the movies, books, and media that appealed to us. We told them about Star Wars and how great the story was. We pushed for the epic telling of The Lord of the Rings on the big screen and Hollywood gave us what we wanted while providing the ladies an Aragorn and a Legolas the ladies would drool over while they immersed them in the tale we *wanted* them to experience.
Look at the top ten grossing movies of all time. Aside from the painfully present “Titanic???, what do those movies have in common? Every single one of them falls into some aspect of the Geek subculture. We didn’t do that by ourselves, kiddies, we had a lot of help from the Beautiful People.
We’ve taken our Geek Loves mainstream, introduced them to the people who once mocked us for our hobbies and our interests. *We* did this and now there are those among us who still cling to that last shred of exclusivity by doubting that these things could ever appeal to women and, more particularly, attractive, intelligent women.
You’ve become a hipster. You’ve embraced the thought that there is no way in Hell that your first and true loves have become embraced by the Pretty People. You’ve seen the Jocks invade your space but they’re Men so it only proves that you were right all along… that the things you did were Cool. But you’re not willing to share that last refuge with the Girls because that would mean *everyone* is jumping on board your Nerd Train. Girls couldn’t possibly like the things you like, because that would somehow diminish the luster of your domain.
I’ve met several women who could out-Nerd me. I’ve known women who would rather watch an Action movie rather than a “Chick Flick???. I’ve hung out and drank with girls who could recite the lines from the original Star Wars movies word for word. I’ve come up against women who could kick my ass in Call of Duty or World of Warcraft and yet, miraculously, somehow retained their feminine charms. And yes, they were all very attractive women.
Were they “pandering??? to my inner Geek? No, they showed a distinct pleasure in being involved with their various interests. They were *into* these things, not just trying to be more Popular.
The old ways are gone, my friends. The words Nerd and Geek are no longer derogatory. They are badges of pride, words we treasure, labels we pursue. We aspire to be these things and we’ve brought others into our world and there is no undoing it.
So accuse the lovely ladies of pandering to the nerds for attention. Accuse them of using their sex appeal to confuse the collective male Us about their actual knowledge of the Geek subculture. You may go so far as to accuse them outright of lying. You’ve become what you once hated… One of the Cool Kids and your Club is a “No Girls Allowed??? treehouse.
In the meantime, I’m going to be over here drinking vodka and talking in depth about comic books with one of those “pandering to nerds??? hot chicks you’re so desperate to disprove the existence of.
Gritskrieg – End of Line