Why the Concept of the "True Geek" is Damaging

Hey everyone! 

The topic I'm tackling today may be a bit controversial but I need to say my thoughts. If you don't like what I'm about to say, then I'm sorry, but it's something that's been bugging me for a while, which is this idea of a true geek.

It started when I was reading up on the whole fake geek girl shaming issue. If you're not familiar with the issue, here's the watered-down version: various people in the geek demographic have gotten angry at girls dressing up in revealing superhero costumes and knowing nothing of said superheroes. This resulted in suspicion of all geek girls, who now have to defend themselves against the barrage of claims that they aren't real geeks. Geek girls then retaliated with arguments that they shouldn't have to defend themselves and that the geek demographic was being sexist.

Source: searchingforsuperwomen.com

Now, I could talk about that whole issue, but I actually think it's a part of something even bigger. I'm talking about the idea of being a "true geek." It comes from people saying, "you're not a true geek if you don't know who insert person here is," or "a true geek has seen every season and watched all the behind-the-scenes features," or "This is something only a true geek would know."

There's also the idea of having a "geek card," which is like the "man card." I've seen and heard these sayings all over the place from Facebook to Pinterest to various blogs. And I've said versions of these statements as well.

For a demographic of people who claim to be a part of entertainment that's posed as both morally and intellectually better than the rest of the world's entertainment, I feel like we sometimes really don't act like it.  We as geeks tend to be a little exclusive with our fandoms, rejecting those that may not fit the definition of a "true geek."


Why do we do it, though? Here's my theory: I think the geek's reactions are similar to the hipster demographic.

Just bear with me for a minute.

The general hipster idea/fashion is the idea of rejection of popular media and ideas in favor of things more obscure. However, once more people got into those ideas, they then became popular and by definition, no longer "hipster." The hipsters then became more exclusive, rejecting those that had casual interest in the obscure. They claimed that one must be completely dedicated to be a hipster. Granted, I am generalizing and I'm sure not every hipster thinks that way, but that's how things looked.

Source: pinterest.com

I believe the same thing happened to the geek demographic. As geeks, we are generally interested in entertainment that's considered different, or even strange. Like the hipster demographic, we more or less rejected popular media in favor of things more unusual, or different. Things deemed crazy, weird, or quirky were our bread and butter.

But then other people got interested: Comic book heroes got their own movies that made bank; certain TV shows became more popular until it seemed like everyone was watching and reading the things we'd been interested in years before. The things we favored because they weren't popular suddenly became popular.

I guess us geeks then had an identity crisis. So we retaliated. We became exclusive, territorial. Anyone who was just mildly interested in something deemed geeky was not considered truly dedicated. People who didn't fit the definition and image of geek were rejected. I think it was a move to try and set the geek demographic apart, to install this sense of pride in being a "true geek." We were trying to build ourselves up and above the rest of the world.

But we've haven't been building ourselves up; we've been tearing others down.

We've been bullies.

And I'm no exception. For a while I was with this idea of exclusion, thinking that those other people who only knew a little bit about my fandom weren't worth my time. I thought that it was stupid that these people who didn't fit the geek image were getting into geeky stuff.

Then I had a bit of a realization: if more people are getting into the entertainment that we've deemed as better than the popular media, think what that will do for the popular media. If more people start getting into what we consider "good entertainment" then more good entertainment will be made. After all, it's all about demand, right?

This made me realize something else. As geeks, we're being pretty selfish to try and keep our shows, games, and books to ourselves. We should be encouraging others to take part in these fantastic forms of media. If you love a show, don't you usually try to share it with someone else? And is someone wrong for having just a passing interest in something? Is it bad if someone doesn't know the names of every single secondary character in a series? Is it wrong for people to be casually interested in something geeky and still call themselves geeks?

Believe me, I understand the other side of this issue as well. I know that there are people who just latch onto the label and image of "geek" and "nerd" and nothing else, which can be annoying. It can be frustrating to see a person claim to be a geek when you know they have no idea what being a geek, at least in your mind, means.

But that's just it. This whole idea of being a "true geek" is completely relative. My idea of a true geek is probably completely different than your idea of a true geek. Even the idea of something being geeky is completely relative too. What I may not consider to be geeky could be very geeky to someone else.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that we should simply be nice. We need to stop comparing people to this idea of "true geek." We should accept others in our "group," even if they may not fit our definitions of geek. There are different levels of geekiness and no one level is greater than the other. I'm willing to practice what I preach too, and I'm trying to be less judgmental of those who may not be as into a fandom as I am.

Well, that's my spiel about geeks. Don't get me wrong, I love geeky things and I love geeky people. They're awesome! I just think we need to cool it sometimes and be nice to others who may not see it the way we do. If you have any thoughts on this matter, feel free to comment below.

Until later, folks!