Back on the N-word podcast, episode 6 and 7 we talked about nerds and I said I would make a nerd hierarchy and Josh said something about putting an alpha nerd at the top. And I tried it that way and it didn’t work. Then I tried what was pretty much a nerd skill tree branching from the general, to either academic, skill or social and it would branch from there.
The A.S.S of nerdiness.
And then after a class with text from Audre Lorde and Marx, I wanted to do a scathing hierarchy about how the only people that can really be alpha nerds are those that define what a nerd is, white, straight guys. Then I calmed down a bit and realized both were right and I couldn’t properly do a neat little diagram anymore. Because although there is the nerd that knows Spiderman knowledge and Mortal Kombat fatality moves off the back of his hand, is no different to the scholar or the auto mechanic (if you don’t think they’re nerds, just listen to how they talk about cars, different dialect, same language). I might not be the cultural lockbox that Josh is, but I could wipe the floor with him in sociological theory. And some female friends of mine could make an enviable costume for any comicon coming up. “But that’s not fair to compare cosplay and college stuff to my nerd stuff,” you’re right, it’s not, but by that extension is it really fair to keep judging what a bad ass nerd you are by your definition of nerd? Chris Hardwick defines a nerd as”what makes someone a nerd is how passionate they are about something and how they will try to understand that thing on a granular level, like, more than anyone else in the world. ” link when talking to Larry King. And all in all, I agree with Albert Einstein’s thought:
and I feel it goes the same for nerds. We are all nerds, but we can’t all be judged by the same specific rules for a vague term.