I am a Nerd and I am proud. Twenty plus years ago, with the cultural mores of a mainstream society, I could not make that statement. I kept to myself in high school in college and pretty much today-- I pretty much kept out of the mainstream back then and kinda still now. But a wave came that geeky people like me rode on... we all rode on that wave, Kurt Cobain, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, Jon Stewart, Janeane Garafolo, all members of Weezer; nerds of all colors and genders rode that wave that crashed into the lonely island of popularity and social status.We were all on the outside looking in. We were those who never got invited to the party-- most of us never cared...SO WE MADE OUR OWN PARTY!
Nerd culture became the new thing and it is still now in a way. We got "nerdcore" as the geeks rapped about Boba Fett and "Freaks and Geeks" hit the airwaves for a brief season launching the careers of Geek gods and godesses that now infiltrate our movie theatres. But then in 2007, CBS launched a series that pretty much put a kibosh on the Nerd Renaissance and threw a curve into the wave... and that was "The Big Bang Theory"!
I ran into the show (trust me, not by choice) as my roomate (trust me, not by choice) watches the show religiously-- repeats, canned laughter and all. Because of the other wave known as the Great Recession hit me, I had to rent out a room and share my living space with a stranger. I am sure that others are in the same situ as me whether they are friends, strangers and even parents.Yet, other people have different lifestyles and tastes and sometimes even beliefs. When I moved in, my roomate seen me as a college educated person with an advanced degree and who is rather shy and keeps to himself. That is when my roomate seen "people like me" on "The Big Bang Theory". My roomate then asked me when I am going to start working at a college like the "Big Bang Theory" people do. I sat through a few episodes (again, not by choice) and I felt like I was back in high school again, but not in a good way. I never recieved any locker shoves, "swirlies", or the physical tribulations that "people like me" went though in high school and college. However, I had my share of verbal crap and the alienation "people like me" went through. Those who were throwing around the insults and various mockeries were the Reaganite rich white boy Frat jockstrap trash and their cheerleader girlfriends-- probably the same assholes who ended up as the writers and the production crew of "Big Bang"! My roomate was probably not part of either side of the Frat boy/Nerd fence-- but she never seen the shit I had to shovel.
I am a Nerd, and I am pretty damn proud of it. The only TRUE Nerds I embody are the ones on "Freaks & Geeks" and of course "Revenge Of The Nerds" (The first one of course, the sequels kinda sucked). I am by no means athletic, actually I'm into sports (okay, more stats than anything). I know my sci-fi and some comics. I am not into Role Playing Games ("RPG's" to us geeks), but when I occasionally have the opportunity to being involved in an RPG, I usually call it "foreplay". Yes, I actually get laid, but with actual women and not "robot" women...even though I could've SWORN there was a girl who thought she was a robot! But, I don't wear glasses, I don't have a pocket protector and I have the inkstains in my pockets to prove it! I consider myself a "trekker" (notice I did not say "trekkie", b/c "trekkie" is not the proper term!). I know some Star Wars, but I am not die hard like others, but I loved "Fanboys". I am more of a "hipster" than anything, I often delve into culture especially the obscure music of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, and old TV shows and movies of the same era. I do my thing, and I have come a long way from that shy geeky kids even though I am still prety shy and STILL incredibly geeky!
Personal BS aside, for those who haven't seen "The Big Bang Theory", it is a sitcom on CBS about these two Nerd roomates in LA named "Sheldon" and "Leonard" ( I am so friggin not kidding and it has nothing to do with the Andy Griffith show nor any 60's CBS sitcom produced by Sheldon Leonard!). "Leonard" is one of those typical TV lonely guy "Oh whoais me" archetypes playing a bespecacled sterotypical Nerd. And then there is "Sheldon" with his gut wrenching and gut turning portrayal of an Asperger-y drone who whines in a monotone pitch and knocks incessently on a door showing no emotion and continuously rambles the name of the recipient behind the door over and over again. Sheldon and Leonard are often joined by two other Nerds which are as about as stereotypical as nerds as they are as stereotypical as their respected nationalities. And then there is the typical "blonde next door" love interest of our leading Poindexter, Leonard. Throw in the bad jokes, the Nerds' obsession with sci-fi and role playing games, more bad jokes, the "expected" behavior of Nerds (particularly "Sheldon's" antisocial behavior), ethnic jokes, and your basic sit-com schtick and you have what I call "The Big Insult Theory"!
Negative portrayal of anyone is basically negative portrayal. I just think that "The Big Bang Theory" is to Nerds is what "Amos & Andy" was to Blacks 60 years earlier. Now I am trying to not play the race card, or in this case "the Nerd card". I can say Nerd is "the new Black", but so many groups can be in that coveted postion; besides, we all come a long way no matter who we are! I am sure if I was Italian, I would feel insulted by "The Jersey Shore" or if I was a Southerner, I would be a tad peeved by Larry The Cable Guy, or shows like "My Big Redneck Wedding". Let's face it, STEREOTYPES SUCK!
I know some of you are saying "But, golly Moses, Brendan! It's just a TV show. Why you have to be so friggin serious? Who peed in your cornflakes?" I am not saying I had a "rough life", I am not saying that I lived a charmed life. I pretty much suffer about as much as anyone else, Nerd or otherwise, but I had my fair share of victories. Like others against the grain who stand out in the eyes of the Status Quo, I held my own-- you can say I even kicked some ass along the way. I am even not saying I am trying to be the Malcolm X of Nerds, let alone start a militant army of Nerds (and possibly call it "The Geek Panthers"); I am trying to show that you cannot judge a group of people by a TV show no matter what it is about or who it is about. Like all other TV shows, we should just enjoy them but we shouldn't convince each other that we "need" to watch that show, or at least try not to convince ourselves "live" the lifestyle of that show. I don't like the show, simply put--but it doesn't mean I drown kittens or burn down churches. But stop pressuring us, man! I don't believe in jumping through hoops just to please the status quo. I just believe that if people like me and the status quo can coexist, that we can only agree to disagree. But then again "can we just get along"?
So the solution is simple, Nerds and Nerdettes: let's all ignore the bullshit and do our own thing! Maybe the best solution to EVERYTHING is turning off our TV's and actually GO OUTSIDE AND DO SOMETHING! Me; I am recoving well from the Recession and I am looking for a new apartment (sans roomate) and actually when I do move in I promise to do two things, watch something I like on TV and not worry about the shows I don't like.This way, I can enjoy a TV show that I find even more "intellectually stimulating" than "The Big Bang Theory"...."THREE'S COMPANY!"
Nerd culture became the new thing and it is still now in a way. We got "nerdcore" as the geeks rapped about Boba Fett and "Freaks and Geeks" hit the airwaves for a brief season launching the careers of Geek gods and godesses that now infiltrate our movie theatres. But then in 2007, CBS launched a series that pretty much put a kibosh on the Nerd Renaissance and threw a curve into the wave... and that was "The Big Bang Theory"!
I ran into the show (trust me, not by choice) as my roomate (trust me, not by choice) watches the show religiously-- repeats, canned laughter and all. Because of the other wave known as the Great Recession hit me, I had to rent out a room and share my living space with a stranger. I am sure that others are in the same situ as me whether they are friends, strangers and even parents.Yet, other people have different lifestyles and tastes and sometimes even beliefs. When I moved in, my roomate seen me as a college educated person with an advanced degree and who is rather shy and keeps to himself. That is when my roomate seen "people like me" on "The Big Bang Theory". My roomate then asked me when I am going to start working at a college like the "Big Bang Theory" people do. I sat through a few episodes (again, not by choice) and I felt like I was back in high school again, but not in a good way. I never recieved any locker shoves, "swirlies", or the physical tribulations that "people like me" went though in high school and college. However, I had my share of verbal crap and the alienation "people like me" went through. Those who were throwing around the insults and various mockeries were the Reaganite rich white boy Frat jockstrap trash and their cheerleader girlfriends-- probably the same assholes who ended up as the writers and the production crew of "Big Bang"! My roomate was probably not part of either side of the Frat boy/Nerd fence-- but she never seen the shit I had to shovel.
I am a Nerd, and I am pretty damn proud of it. The only TRUE Nerds I embody are the ones on "Freaks & Geeks" and of course "Revenge Of The Nerds" (The first one of course, the sequels kinda sucked). I am by no means athletic, actually I'm into sports (okay, more stats than anything). I know my sci-fi and some comics. I am not into Role Playing Games ("RPG's" to us geeks), but when I occasionally have the opportunity to being involved in an RPG, I usually call it "foreplay". Yes, I actually get laid, but with actual women and not "robot" women...even though I could've SWORN there was a girl who thought she was a robot! But, I don't wear glasses, I don't have a pocket protector and I have the inkstains in my pockets to prove it! I consider myself a "trekker" (notice I did not say "trekkie", b/c "trekkie" is not the proper term!). I know some Star Wars, but I am not die hard like others, but I loved "Fanboys". I am more of a "hipster" than anything, I often delve into culture especially the obscure music of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, and old TV shows and movies of the same era. I do my thing, and I have come a long way from that shy geeky kids even though I am still prety shy and STILL incredibly geeky!
Personal BS aside, for those who haven't seen "The Big Bang Theory", it is a sitcom on CBS about these two Nerd roomates in LA named "Sheldon" and "Leonard" ( I am so friggin not kidding and it has nothing to do with the Andy Griffith show nor any 60's CBS sitcom produced by Sheldon Leonard!). "Leonard" is one of those typical TV lonely guy "Oh whoais me" archetypes playing a bespecacled sterotypical Nerd. And then there is "Sheldon" with his gut wrenching and gut turning portrayal of an Asperger-y drone who whines in a monotone pitch and knocks incessently on a door showing no emotion and continuously rambles the name of the recipient behind the door over and over again. Sheldon and Leonard are often joined by two other Nerds which are as about as stereotypical as nerds as they are as stereotypical as their respected nationalities. And then there is the typical "blonde next door" love interest of our leading Poindexter, Leonard. Throw in the bad jokes, the Nerds' obsession with sci-fi and role playing games, more bad jokes, the "expected" behavior of Nerds (particularly "Sheldon's" antisocial behavior), ethnic jokes, and your basic sit-com schtick and you have what I call "The Big Insult Theory"!
Negative portrayal of anyone is basically negative portrayal. I just think that "The Big Bang Theory" is to Nerds is what "Amos & Andy" was to Blacks 60 years earlier. Now I am trying to not play the race card, or in this case "the Nerd card". I can say Nerd is "the new Black", but so many groups can be in that coveted postion; besides, we all come a long way no matter who we are! I am sure if I was Italian, I would feel insulted by "The Jersey Shore" or if I was a Southerner, I would be a tad peeved by Larry The Cable Guy, or shows like "My Big Redneck Wedding". Let's face it, STEREOTYPES SUCK!
I know some of you are saying "But, golly Moses, Brendan! It's just a TV show. Why you have to be so friggin serious? Who peed in your cornflakes?" I am not saying I had a "rough life", I am not saying that I lived a charmed life. I pretty much suffer about as much as anyone else, Nerd or otherwise, but I had my fair share of victories. Like others against the grain who stand out in the eyes of the Status Quo, I held my own-- you can say I even kicked some ass along the way. I am even not saying I am trying to be the Malcolm X of Nerds, let alone start a militant army of Nerds (and possibly call it "The Geek Panthers"); I am trying to show that you cannot judge a group of people by a TV show no matter what it is about or who it is about. Like all other TV shows, we should just enjoy them but we shouldn't convince each other that we "need" to watch that show, or at least try not to convince ourselves "live" the lifestyle of that show. I don't like the show, simply put--but it doesn't mean I drown kittens or burn down churches. But stop pressuring us, man! I don't believe in jumping through hoops just to please the status quo. I just believe that if people like me and the status quo can coexist, that we can only agree to disagree. But then again "can we just get along"?
So the solution is simple, Nerds and Nerdettes: let's all ignore the bullshit and do our own thing! Maybe the best solution to EVERYTHING is turning off our TV's and actually GO OUTSIDE AND DO SOMETHING! Me; I am recoving well from the Recession and I am looking for a new apartment (sans roomate) and actually when I do move in I promise to do two things, watch something I like on TV and not worry about the shows I don't like.This way, I can enjoy a TV show that I find even more "intellectually stimulating" than "The Big Bang Theory"...."THREE'S COMPANY!"
Never watched the show, but I get what you're saying.
ReplyDeleteNick
If anything Nick, it's a poor attempt of "The Young Ones" if anything. Actually, I missed that show. It was shown on MTV from the mid-to-late 80's. As an American, I am truly jealous of the quality of programs of the UK.
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