Before I get into the meat of this post, I want everyone to go take a read of this wikipedia entry for the term “Nerd.” To most people, the terms ”Nerd,” ”Dork” and “Geek” are interchangable… but the terms are actually quite different. Check out this article about How to Tell the Difference between Nerds and Geeks. I point these out so that everyone has a clear reference toward what I’m going to be posting about.

While I’m not going to get into all the things I’ve done in my life that give me some type of “nerd street cred”.. I’ll just say that I’ve been playing around with computers since I got my first Commodore Vic-20 back in 1982, ran my own bulliten board system and played AD&D throughout high school, and have been gainfully employed in the “Internet Industry” for the past 10 years. I’d like to think I’m not quite as bad as most nerd/geek/dork stereotypes, but I certainly have a few characteristics that would get me labelled as such.

What got me thinking about this, was that I’ve been noticing this new style movement called “Geek Chic” where people “embrace the stereotypically unpopular ‘geek’ characteristics such as glasses, comic books, and computer games.”  Now its “cool” to be considered a nerd/geek/dork. There is even a “Nerd Pride Day” in Spain, where they celebrate the right to be a Nerd or Geek.

But for some reason, I see this as the ultimate put down to true nerds/geeks… Its like saying, “See, I’m so cool, I can even pull THIS look off.”

Even on network television, we have a ton of television programs that celebrate “geekdom”… Some of these shows are nerdy by nature, like CSI, Numb3rs, Bones and House, where they use lots of medical and forensic terminology/equipment that sounds really impressive, and they dramatize scientists and their related work and environments. For some reason I don’t have a problem with these type of shows at all. They tend to treat the viewer as an intellectual, and while the protagonists like Gil Grissom (CSI) and Charlie Eppes (Numb3rs) are quirky and highly intellectual, they still have the resemblence to regular people only a bit smarter.

But there are also some of the newer shows that make a mockery of nerds. TV shows such as “The Big Bang Theory“, “Chuck“, and even the reality game show “Beauty and the Geek“… These shows tend to take the caricature of your stereotypical nerd, and go to the extremes with them. I view these type of shows along the same lines as the Revenge of the Nerd movies.

They take the worst stereotypes of “nerds” and then make some kind of noble, “Just give Nerds a chance” socially-responsible statement. The characters are these odd-ball, socially inept guys, with no fashion sense, that are somehow introduced to a “cool” person who never quite understands what the Nerds are saying, but oh, how nice of them to look beyond the surface to see how sweet these poor people are.

Granted, these shows are funny, in a guilty “Glad I’m not like that” kind of way… but I worry that by creating these type of shows, we are perpetuating the stereotypes and myths that every “cool” person has about nerds. In today’s society of glitz and glamour, are we teaching our young children that its ok to laugh at nerds? That its ok to be smart, as long as you don’t act THAT way.  

Is there really any wonder why there is a shortage of young people willing to take on a career in the math and science fields. Why would anyone decide to study physics when its easier and more socially acceptable to act like the characters from MTV’s the Real World?

But what can nerds actually do about this? Is there really anything nerds can do to combat this form of prejudice and get to a point where its acceptable to be an intellectual in everyday society without being ridiculed and/or treated like they are some sort of oddity? Or, is being a nerd by definition, the ability to not need society’s acceptance, and do what you are passionate about?

Heck, I’m probably being way too sensitive to the plight of the nerd… Most nerds aren’t too concerned about how they are portrayed in the media and/or society. They are too busy trying to find the cure for Cancer and inventing new energy sources to worry about being “cool.”