Author's Note: This piece has been reprinted from the Hairy Tarantula Comics and Games website and originally appeared there on November 6th, 2013. In light of the recent controversy running through the nerd community over video games (sorta), I thought it might be appropriate to share again here. The piece also happens to be one of the most personal creations I have ever sold to anyone and absolutely nothing about my opinion has changed since I wrote it. This work has been printed here now with full permission from the Hairy Tarantula Comics and Games (whom I sold it to):
To be completely honest with you, I should start by saying that I
don’t know who you are. Sure, there was a time when I could safely
assume that anyone reading this was a Caucasian, heterosexual male,
somewhere between the ages of thirteen and forty years old. You’d also
likely be an atheist, although you might be Christian or Jewish; if so,
you won’t discuss it much. I could have guessed that you worked in the
tech industry or perhaps the sciences. Indeed for much of the past
thirty years I probably could go so far as to pick out your favorite
movie (Star Wars), your favorite TV show (Doctor Who), your sense of
fashion (printed T-shirts and ill-fitting casual slacks) and even what
you’d be doing on a Saturday night (playing Dungeons and Dragons if
you’re my age, playing World of Warcraft online if you’re a few years
younger). Whether you were a nerd, a dweeb, a geek, a dork, a gamer or
just the lonely kid who never quite seemed to fit in anywhere until he
joined the chess club, it was pretty easy to identify you (and me)
amongst a crowd of so-called “normal” people. This uniformity then
combined with a sense of marginalization and alienation to bind us
together and create a true feeling of unity and brotherhood amongst our
fellow nerds. We may have been on the outside of mainstream culture, but
sharing a community with other outcasts allowed us to stop caring about
a society that had rejected us. Instead of “looking in” we started to
“tune out” this culture and focus on making our own, beautiful mark on
the world around us.
The question of exactly why the nerd subculture would proceed to
dominate and indeed eventually assimilate mainstream culture in the
western world is significantly beyond the scope of this essay. I would
however suggest simply that as a group, nerds are smart, technologically
savvy and creative; they’re also absurdly focused and determined enough
to see their ideas become a reality even in the face of mainstream
opposition. It would be easy to suggest the rise of the computer caused
the rise of the nerd but that would be to ignore our contributions to
fields like art, journalism, movies, television, fashion, and perhaps
less positively the financial industry or government. In truth there was
no one real breakthrough moment in the rise of nerd culture and if the
struggle for acceptance could be deemed a “war”, it was a conflict won
through education and peaceful nonconformity. As the smoke cleared, we
looked around and saw a world where it was truly and finally “hip to be
square” and there was indeed much rejoicing. In light of this
(admittedly brief) history lesson, perhaps what would happen next was
entirely predictable.
The problem of course started after nerd culture had completely
dominated mainstream culture. Suddenly, people from all walks of life
were gravitating towards computers, gaming, anime, comic books and a
never-ending host of other subcultures we had previously defined as
“nerdy”. In a different historical context, this might have been another
unifying moment but unfortunately as it happened the result has been to
tear us apart. The very qualities that had served to nurture nerd
culture now turned into barriers with which we attempted to keep out
“those who don’t belong”. Our fierce independence became elitism and
cliquish behavior. Or vast intelligence quickly turned towards how to
protect our special community from outsiders who would ruin what we had
built. Our sense of isolation and alienation was replaced by arrogance
that allowed many of us to claim protection for and dominion over a
culture that we neither created alone, nor had permission to speak for.
Perhaps most horrifying of all however was the way that our prior
uniformity turned into the new profile for who was and wasn’t a “real”
member of the nerd subculture. One by one, we erected barricades and
stereotypes based on gender, race, religion and sexual orientation while
simultaneously fracturing existing nerd culture into smaller subgroups
in a foolish quest to identify “real nerds”. This unfortunate fracturing
brings us to today, when nerd culture is beset on all sides by social
conflicts that on the surface appear unrelated, but are all ultimately
part of the second great struggle that will come to define, or destroy
it. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to assume that if you’re
reading this you probably have a vested interest in helping to define,
rather than destroy said culture. I’m also going to assume that there is
nothing inherently evil or even amoral about nerd culture; as a social
group I believe that nerds are generally warm and friendly to outsiders
so long as we do not feel threatened or surrounded. Rather, I believe
that many of us have simply lost our way and forgotten the feelings of
isolation and alienation that drew us together in the first place. If I
assume these things are true, the obvious question then becomes: “what
can we as nerds do to help bring our culture back to its roots of peace,
tolerance and acceptance?”
Well, for starters we can stop assuming that every single complaint
about our culture is “politically correct nonsense”, “special needs
claptrap” or “feminist whining”. We can start listening, reading and
using our own judgment to understand these complaints and weigh them on a
case by case basis like the rational, intelligent people we’re supposed
to be. In fact I’d go one step further and suggest that we can stop
assuming every single complaint is an attack on nerd culture as a whole;
I stopped reading Penny Arcade years ago because it wasn’t funny
anymore, so I feel no need to defend its creators now when they say
incredibly stupid things into a microphone. When we were a marginalized
minority in a society that scorned us, blindly banding together for
mutual protection was logical and even noble. Now that nerds are the
dominant culture however, this behavior reeks of entitlement, conformity
and bullying; the very qualities we openly despised not so long ago.
I’m reminded of a quote from a classic nerdy movie (Starship Troopers)
in which a war veteran who is now a teacher refuses to advise one of the
main characters to join the space army. He says “Figuring things out
for your self is practically the only freedom anyone really has
nowadays. Use that freedom”. My question to you then becomes “are you
using that freedom?”
Of course, once we exercise our freedom to make up our own minds, we
might start to realize that there really is a problem here in paradise.
With open eyes we might start to see these issues for what they really
are; racism, sexism, groupthink, oppression, misdirected anger and
bullying in all of their hideous glories. We might also have to come
face to face with how our own individual actions have helped to support
and contribute to the nightmarish scenario we are faced with today.
Finally, we might realize that every single day these actions and
attitudes are coloring the opinions of people towards our culture
worldwide. The media isn’t interested in stories about nerds coming
together in peace and harmony, but they sure as heck will jump all over a
story about a popular science fiction writer who actively campaigns
against gay marriage now won’t they? Nobody wants to hear about the
thousands of polite, normal people who play Call of Duty, but if one
nutcase goes out and beats up a thirteen year old or worse, engages in a
shooting; how quick is the media to jump all over the “violent video
games” issue nerds so know and detest? Profiling a serial killer? Why of
course he played Dungeons and Dragons and other mysterious
“role-playing games!” Frankly, the list goes on and on and if you’re
reading this you don’t need me to provide infinite examples; a curious
world is now openly examining our culture in the media and frankly they
don’t always like what they see. If I’m being honest with you, neither
do I and deep down inside, I’d guess you aren’t fond of the view either.
In short, once you’ve examined the issues and made up your mind, you
can then recognize that there is a problem.
Unfortunately, simply acknowledging and understanding the problem in
our community is not enough. In order to steer nerd culture back towards
openness and tolerance it will be necessary to actively create change
in the communities around us. Of course, the truth is that change starts
internally, with each of us as individuals. As Mahatma Gandhi once
said, “be the change you wish to see in the world” and while his words
may have been eloquent, the basis of his message was quite simple. In
order to bring tolerance and acceptance back into our culture, we
personally must become tolerant and acceptant. In order to share our
ideas amongst a community of equals, we must personally learn to listen
to others and treat them as equals. Every journey begins with a single
step and the easiest first step we can take in our own lives is to
examine our own thoughts, ideas and behavior in a critical light. We can
recognize our faults and rather than defending or punishing ourselves
we can actively seek to eradicate elitism, bigotry and bullying in our
own thoughts and behaviors. A better community starts with better people
and woe is the beast who can’t escape the past when it becomes swept up
in the tide of history. You can either start with the woman in the
mirror and solve the problem, or you can blunder along without realizing
you are part of the problem; what you cannot do is pretend it doesn’t
concern you. Ignorance and fear are simply no longer reasonable options
if we hope to preserve what makes nerd culture so special to begin with.
Naturally there are those who for any number of reasons will continue
to choose elitism, bigotry and bullying in a futile quest to protect
this culture. Some will do so out of isolation, fear and alienation.
Others, because of a genuine sense of superiority and entitlement; the
idea that intelligent people have a right to exploit the stupid is by no
means alien to nerd culture. Finally of course there will be those who
simply stumble along from moment to moment, firmly certain that their
ideas, attitudes and behavior are all completely acceptable because
nobody in their social groupings seems to think any different. Many of
these individuals will be quite educated, articulate and vocal about
their opposition to anything they perceive as an attempt to invade,
standardize or otherwise modify nerd culture. As a result these
individuals will continue to fascinate the media; thereby drawing
scrutiny and criticism from anyone enlightened enough to recognize fear
and hatred when they see it. The second step then becomes actively
speaking up about and taking actions to prevent others from poisoning
our shared community with intolerance. We must actively work to make our
games, meeting places, social media sites and especially interactions
with the public at large open, welcoming and most importantly
respectful. When our fellow gamers, geeks and nerds violate these
concepts, we are morally and intellectually obliged to refute them, to
call them out and point out their intolerance. It is not enough to
merely eradicate our own ignorance, poor habits and self-entitled
attitudes; we must defend those who would be persecuted, educate those
who would learn and ostracize those who refuse to change. Absolutely
none of these things are possible without everyday nerds like you and
me, actively speaking up in the face of intolerance and oppression.
Frankly, I know what you’re probably thinking. Right now, you’re
probably wondering how anything I’ve written here today matters in the
long term. You’re openly questioning the ability of one person to
change a culture that by my own admission now actively dominates the
western world. I will of course concede that these are fair points, but
before you tune me out and forget that you’ve ever laid eyes on this
article, please allow me to return to the history of nerd culture for a
moment. One of the most fascinating and indeed inspiring aspects of our
collective community is that with relatively few exceptions it was
created by nerds, for nerds and with very little help from the
establishment or public authorities. There’s always been a certain
rebellious, independent and even stubborn aspect of identifying with
nerd culture; this in truth is likely what drew mainstream elements
towards us in the first place. Applied correctly, the past sixty years
have definitively proven that these elements of nerd culture can be
harnessed to change the entire world and virtually every aspect of our
daily lives. If you don’t believe me, take a look down at your
cell-phone and then ask yourself what percentage of the planet is
currently carrying around a Star Trek communicator as we speak. In
countless ways, nerd culture has modified, enhanced and even come to
define mainstream society; we no longer have a message so much as we are
the message. For a generation, nerd culture has smashed down doors to
transform western culture and we’ve done it through a combination of
individualism, intelligence and sheer, stubborn refusal to take no for
answer. We challenged the status quo, dared to imagine and responded to
small-minded criticism with a triumphant roar of “why not?” every time
we were told that nerds could not change the world. In short, we have
every reason to believe that we as individuals can change both nerd
culture and society at large for the better, simply because the nerds
who came before us already did just that! In the words of Margaret Mead,
“never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For,
indeed, that’s all who ever have.”
No, the simple truth is that I do not know who you are; but if you’re
still reading this, I think I have some idea of where you came from and
who you might become. I know that deep down inside, you still remember
what it was like to feel alone, bullied and tormented simply because you
were different. I want you to think back in your own mind and recall
the child you were when you decided to join up with other nerds and
explore your ideas and interests with people who wouldn’t judge you. Did
that child care about religion, politics or economic backgrounds? Was
she racist? Did he hate girls? At any point in time was that child
worried about who was and wasn’t a real nerd; or were you more worried
about being loved and accepted by others of your own kind? Was there a
special ritual you had to perform to prove you were actually a nerd or
was simply hanging around with other nerds and expressing an interest in
nerdy things enough? I won’t answer these questions for you folks
because if you’re reading this, you are smart enough to know the
difference between right and wrong. Together as nerds, we stand at the
proverbial fork in the road, and owing to our own success, the time has
come to make a decision about where nerd culture is heading. Down one
path, lies a culture that continues to purposely classify, isolate and
cannibalize itself to protect its own uniqueness. Down the other, nerd
culture continuously adapts to include anyone and everyone who’s
interested in aspects of that culture. One path leads to growth, the
other ends in stagnation or even loss. Make no mistake folks; history
does not stand still and every culture, even nerd culture must
eventually face the fact that you are either moving forward or you are
falling back. Time judges those who can adapt and thrive favorably but
saves its harshest condemnations for those who attempt to arrest the
wheel of progress. The past sixty years alone are littered with numerous
subcultures that briefly captured the public imagination, before
eventually failing to adapt to a changing world around them. The simple
truth is that there is nothing inherently more dynamic or resilient
about nerd culture than rock culture, hippy culture, yuppy culture or
really any other type of cultural movement you want to imagine. We must
decide now to return to our inclusive, tolerant roots or we will surely
fall by the wayside for all of the same reasons nerds dominated western
culture in the first place. The choice however, is yours; neither I nor
anyone else can make the decision for you. Choose wisely, because it’s
literally a question of survival for nerd culture as we know it.
- Eugene Ionesco
