geek

John Kawakami johnk at cyberjava.com
Wed Sep 13 02:18:06 PDT 2000


There was a popular novelty song called "Pencil Neck Geek" by Freddie Blassie. During the 80's, the song was played, probably weekly, for years, on the Dr. Demento show. It didn't really describe the geek's hobbies, but described him as a "grit eating freak, scum sucking pea-head with a lousy physique. A one man, no gut, losing streak."

Well, in high school, there is always a guy who seems to fit that description, in part or completely. And, in the 80's, I suppose that a disproportionate number turned to computers as some kind of refuge from this harsh judgement. For a lot of computer nerds, I think it was hard not to feel some sympathy for those losers, because, for computer nerds, it was a case of "there but for the grace of God (and my high IQ) go I." (or worse - "oh shit - that's me")

I have to draw this link between that song and the geek culture because a LOT of contemporary computer nerds listened to Dr. Demento. They listened to the Dr., played computer games, read comic books, played RPGs like D&D, and read science fiction. There was a common community of alienation that was constructed for these boys, and, I believe, it helped define the term "geek".

What really sucks about this current Geek Chic is that it doesn't always translate into compassion for the losers; there's no slack being cut for people who aren't smart. Worse, there's little sympathy for poor people who screw up. These "geeks" suck. They fancy themselves as having risen from adversity, when, in fact, they were born to become the boss. Their trauma is having been ostracized by the cool kids in high school. The valorize their social retardation, because they really haven't developed as human beings.

[this is a three-chile post, according to eudora's flamage filter]

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-------------------------------------- John Kawakami johnk at cyberjava.com, johnk at firstlook.com



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