Forget the Outside

You’ve probably read enough of my rants here to know that I’m pretty proud of who I am.  Hell I call myself Geek 2.0 (the upgraded, professional version).  I blog here at a place named Nerdcaliber, which has nerd in it’s first name (as well as a name that makes you imagine a giant nerd-firing gun).  I’m to say the least a little blatant about it.  I embrace who I am.

What I don’t embrace is the idea that we have to be outsiders.

Sure, we geeks, nerds, fans, otaku, techheads, and the rest of our “kind” were often treated as outsiders.  Of course now in an age where Geek means rich and smart, “The Avengers” is a huge mega-hit, Doctor Who is an ever-regenerating sex symbol, and Joss Whedon could start his own religion* we’re not exactly outsiders anymore.  If anything we’re pretty inside, to judge by how often we have to play tech support for our family and friends.

Of course, this doesn’t mean some people like that.  Every now and then you hear that “people aren’t really geeks” or “they don’t get what it was like to be a nerd in my day” and so on.  Being an elder geek, I probably hear it a bit more than I’d like, especially as I move among many spheres and age groups in my activities, conventions, and webwork.

Know what, I don’t think being a nerd, geek, or whatever has to be about being an outsider.  Sure it was an unfortunate reality – and I say this as a guy who felt quite liberated by Revenge of The Nerds and Real Genius** – but as far as I’m concerned the idea that being an outsider has to be part of our identity is 100% Grade A. B.S.

Defining ourselves as outsiders just means continuing a sense of isolation and alienation that was, simply, a giant pain in our nerdy asses for years.  Look no one enjoys alienation and outsider status, unless you’re being deemed an outsider by people who are seriously compromised representatives of humanity.  If you get off on being an outsider, being pushed away, then you might want to ask if you have issues as opposed to society (note: the answer may be both have issues).

Being an outsider also means that we focus on not being something as opposed to being ourselves.  Every moment spent trying not to be something is time wasted that could be spent being yourself.  If you ever met someone who was so busy not being this or that or the other thing that you wondered who they were anyway, you get the idea.

Finally, as far as I’m concerned we nerds, otaku, geeks, and so on are not defined by outsiders status by enthusiasm.  The first thing that defines us is that we get into things – we like things, we obsess on them, we apply ourselves.  None of this requires being an “outsider” by any means.  Being an outsider in a way is the very antitheses of the passion that is integral to who we are.

So forget being an outsider.  Forget the idea that somehow we have to be alienated.  We’ve got better things to do.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.

*The WWJD bracelets would confuse people theologically.

** How many times that was run at my dorm . . .