Have Geeks Gone Mainstream?

Have Geeks Gone Mainstream?


In it for the money
(Score:5, Insightful)
by Tassach (137772) Alter Relationship on Friday November 18, @09:59PM (#14068705)
(http://www.livejournal.com/~tassach/)
Not everyone who choses comp sci or some other "geeky" degree is automatically a geek. A lot of people are just in it for the money. If you look at the graph in the one linked article [cra.org], there are two spikes -- the first one starting in the late 70's and early 80's and peaking in 83-84, which corresponds with the rise and fall of the 8-bit personal computer era; and the second one centered around the internet bubble. When computers were percieved as being a cool and/or profitable career in mainstream culture, a lot of people gravitated for it for the status and/or the money, not because they were computer geeks. When the bubble bursts and computers fall out of the spotlight, the trend-followers leave for greener pastures.
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Why do the folks who insist on keeping "God" in "one nation under God" want to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
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The Girls of Geekdom's "Computer Geek"
(Score:5, Insightful)
by Robotbeat (461248) Alter Relationship on Friday November 18, @09:53PM (#14068665)
Sorry to say, but I just think that the "computer geek" pin-up model just fits too well with the typical computer geek... TOO well to be a pin-up, maybe. I don't really think that geek will ever really be cool or sexy, since an important part of what makes someone a geek is the lack of concern for coolness and a really under-developed (read:adolescent) sexual identity. Not only that, but the most geeky geeks that I know are much more concerned about the most correct logical conjugation of something than the idea that other people (especially those who aren't too interested in some obscure geekiness) even exist as incarnations other than a computer-screen glow. I mean, being a geek seems antithetical to being cool.
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Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" while looking for a stick. War is God's way of teaching Americans geography.
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It's working out
(Score:5, Funny)
by Darby (84953) Alter Relationship on Friday November 18, @09:43PM (#14068605)
Yeah, it's nice. I mention I can compile a kernel in any bar, and models, strippers and hookers are begging me to do coke off their tits.
Truly amazing.

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Republican Morality: Mass murder good. Loving a person Evil. What sick fucks.
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Mistaken Assumptions by the Media
(Score:5, Insightful)
by eno2001 (527078) Alter Relationship on Friday November 18, @11:17PM (#14069048)
(Last Journal: Thursday November 17, @12:29PM)
In the past when I was growing up (1980s), a geek was a guy or girl who was particularly obsessed with some unpopular but intellectual activity. It could have been computers. It could have been being on the A/V or stage crews. It could have been D&D. It could have been working in the library. Or it could have been chemistry or physics or astronomy. THAT was, is and always shall be the true geek. In fact geeks were also often synonymous with nerds. Typically geeks and nerds were not usually well liked or at best were given some kind of freak "mascot" status with the popular people.

Flash forward to the looney world of today and geekiness has been redefined. Geeks now have an edge. If they are female, maybe they wrap their slighlty overweight figures in goth clothes instead of the traditional sweater and ill fitting jeans. They use Manic Panic hair dye and shop at Hot Topic where they get their pseudo-fetish garb. They have "attitude" because they now know that the world is their oyster. The guys ditched the glasses for contacts and the pocket protectors for gadgets. They all listen to emo. Or at least, this is what the media wants you to believe.

Many of today's geeks as defined by and in the media (both self professed and knighted) aren't really geeks at all. They're still kids trying to fit in and choosing yet another fashion fad that tries, but fails, to be truly self-deprecating. And the interests of these so-called geeks are no longer unpopular. Video gaming? I think that pretty much knocks out the interest in popular music that used to be the hallmark of teen life. Role playing games? There are lots more people who are into them these days and they have that "edge" that the originals lacked. Graphic Novels? The only thing geeky about that activity is the interaction with the sneering comic book guy jackass who runs the store where they are sold.

Computers? Ahhhh yes. Computers. There are so many people who mistakenly assume that someone who can fix a minor problem or tweak a Windows box is a "computer geek". Ask one of these "geeks" how to tell if they are being scanned via the command prompt and you'd likely get a blank stare. People who can use Windows at even a moderately advanced level are not "geeks". They are simply people who have learned how to use a mainstream appliance. The number of e-mail addresses or IM clients one has does not make them a geek. It's a lot like calling people in the 80s who could actually set their VCR and Microwave oven clocks, "geeks". basic computer usage is no longer a qualifier to the title geek.

Gadgets? One of the BIGGEST mistaken assumptions by the masses and the media is the confusion between a geek and a "gadget guy". It's an easy one to make because most people are bewildered by gadgets and assume that mastery of these devices MUST be a geeky persuit. Of course, they are wrong. Ownership of a large screen television, two cell phones with bluetooth, a PDA, pager and home theater set up do not endow one with "geekiness". Tragically, the gadget guy is simply a conspicuous consumer with nothing better to do than attempt to master these machines and thereby appear "geeky" to the less perceptive. Most gadget guys tend to be office workers with little or not actual technical or scientific background at all. The true geek BUILDS his own A/V gear. He eschews the big box stores like Best Buy and prefers to scour the internet for circuit diagrams for the latest audio amp and then orders the parts to build it from Digikey. Do not think that because you can plug in a brand new SATA or IEEE1384 adapter card that you are a geek. The real geeks you went to school with would laugh their horkly little nasal passages away at the notion that one considers themselves a geek for using a PnP PCI card. No sir... back in the day, it was editing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and making sure you had enough free memory in the right spots. Today, as horrible as PnP can be, it's still child's play compared to what REAL geeks were doing in 1987.

Do not misunderstand me. There are still plenty of geeks today. They still do a lot of the classically geeky things as well as some new things. Some of them are being confused by the attempt to mainstream the geeks and are falling into the traps. They are trying to be a bit more fashionable than their 80s counterparts because they think they have to, but you can tell a real geek from a fake one because he or she will fail miserably in their attempt to look "cool". They might wear the wrong coat with the wrong hair. Or attempt to look "dark" while still holding onto that one piece of happy happy dayglo that they genuinely love. But most important of all, they are coding, soldering, breadboarding, beakering, polishing their homemade mirrors for their homemade telescopes and they are doing these things alone because no one else cares. (Except for the lucky few who found one or two other real geeks who share the interest)

In fact I met a genuine geek last year on my new street. It was Halloween night and he came a bit late. There was a ring at my front door and I went to see who was there and what they were wearing. Instead there is this kid with curly hair and about medium height. Probably about 14. Maybe 15. I'm bad with ages these days. He's not wearing a costume. He's just in his regular clothes. I open the door. "Hey. Yeah yeah I know... I'm not wearing a costume. Lame. I know. I've just been studying for the past two hours and I decided to take a break and see if anyone still has any candy. So ya got any"? I gladly offered his the bowl to make a selection from. He took a few bits, said "happy halloween" and went back to his house to study. Now THAT was cool. A REAL honest to god geek in 2004. That got me to thinking. What REALLY is a geek? And I realized, it's a grown up with grown up interests trapped in the body of a youngster with the social skills of a youngster. Some of them grow up to be "just normal". Some of them stay geeky because they don't develop the mainstream social skills. But the one thing that separates them from the rest is that they actually prefer to take the harder route if they feel the end result is worth it when it comes to learning something complex. And that, my friends, is a geek.
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