Society & Culture: Entry #1

Fake Geeks & Fake Nerds: 

Are they Friends of Foes?

This blog addresses a topic that caught my attention, which was over a message that was posted on Facebook a year ago by Tony Harris, a comic book artist claiming that certain people, most specifically woman are pretending to be geeks or nerds that are interested comics without actually having any sort of enthusiasm whatsoever and only pretend to get attention. 

Firstly, i'll say he's wrong to focus on women as pretending to be geeks to get attention because there a women that are enthusiastic with comics as well as men. However, i can understand where he is coming from because people, both men & women who are enthusiastic along with being knowledgable and  obsessed with comics as well as manga, cartoons, anime & video games are labeled as geeks or nerds. While people, who society see as beautiful, cool and otherwise mature would believe watching cartoons, reading comics, collecting toys are childish. Therefore, the geeks & nerds are often recognised as immature and assumed to be socially awkward virgins, which leads them to being looked down on and ridiculed in addition to the possibility of being bullied, especially as teenagers during school and later in adult life. 

"World of Warcraft Rules!!!"

Nowadays, with the success of the movies & tv series based on comics & novels like The Avengers, Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy, the walking dead, arrow,  game of thrones and Harry Potter, the term "being a geek" or "being a nerd" has become a new social, yet fashionable trend as emphasised by the media. Then all of the sudden, those people who thought less of geeks & nerds are now dressing and acting like them be cool to get attention or to have fun, especially for halloween or fancy dress without any sort of genuine obsession whatsoever with anything relating to what is know as the geek culture, which include comics, cartoons, anime merchandises like toys etc. Those people are identified as fake geeks & fake nerds. 

"Being a geek or a nerd is fun,  join in everybody!"

With everyone  following the "being a geek" or "being a nerd" trend as the geek culture being assimilated into mainstream society, this would make the actual geeks &nerds feel as if their personal space is being invaded like how school bullies come and occupy a space that is reserved for their less popular peers. Not to mention the fact the actual geeks & nerds would feel their identity is, which has been established for years is being stolen as everyone decides to join the bandwagon and pretend to be a geek or a nerd for fun and to get attention. As of consequence, the geeks & nerds will feel like they would their unique status as fake geeks & & fake nerds make being a geek or a nerd something out of the ordinary. 

Also, those fake geeks & fake nerds will gain recognition and acceptance while the actual geeks and nerds, who actually had been obsessed with comics, manga, cartoons, anime and merchandises for years will continued to be ostracised and ridiculed because of it. So i can understand with the growing animosity aimed at those fake geeks & fake nerds, perhaps due to a long term resentment as a result of being social rejected and humiliated over the years to the point where they feel ashamed for their interests and hobbies as well as being afraid to express who they really are. 

But when 'being a geek" or "being a nerd" trend is over, those fake geeks & fake nerds are really just attention seeking posers, who are average people with a need to fit into a sort of group or class. Therefore, they would abandon the trend because it will no longer be cool and going back to their normal lives while continuing to look down on and ridicule the actual geeks and nerds, while following another trend that will be introduced into mainstream society. 

On the other hand, those fake geeks or fake nerds could actually prove to be beneficial as they could actually promote the geek culture as well as admiring the geeks and nerds for their enthusiasm and passion for things relating to sci-fi, superheroes, fantasies etc. Perhaps promoting the geek culture in mainstream society with the fake geeks & fake nerds would help encourage true geeks and nerds alike to be free to express their love for stars wars, star trek, iron man, Thor, Harry Potter, Lord of the rings without the fear of facing social ridicule and feeling ashamed to be who they are, although it happens from time to time, but they would not be affected by it so much.

Anyways, at the end of the day, if anyone, men or women are interested in comics, manga as well as cartoons, anime, collecting merchandises and playing video games should do so, but only if they are genuinely interested and not pretend just to get attention because it is cool or socially acceptable in mainstream society by the influence of the media.