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POSEURS: AN APPRECIATION
There’s been a lot of talk about this post by John Scalzi, which was a response to this post by Joe Peacock, both of which have to do with who constitutes a “real” geek.
To summarize:
Peacock resents booth babes who aren’t “real” geeks turning up at trade shows. Scalzi says True Geekdom is about sharing our love of geek things, and welcoming all who appreciate geek stuff, so leave the booth babes alone.
A number of self-proclaimed geeks (many of whom are quick to qualify their opinion by pointing out that they not only hate Peacock’s columns in general) have nonetheless backed Peacock’s basic point: Geekdom is a way of life, and doing cosplay for money or liking the new Avengers film cos it’s trendy doesn’t make you a “real” geek, and we’d just as soon you stay away from us.
Some of the justification for this POV seems based in the idea that real geeks have earned their geekness by (1) liking geek stuff before it was cool and (2) getting picked on and beat up in high school for liking it.
Believe me, I can sympathize. But in the end, I don’t really buy the concept that yr not a real geek unless you’ve been uncool enough to suffer for it.
Granted, my perspective is a little different for a couple of reasons:
1. While I got picked on and beat up a lot in school, it wasn’t because I liked “geek/nerd” things like comics, Star Wars and Doctor Who. It was because I had red hair, I was fat, I had a weird sense of humor and (by 8th Grade) I was generally considered to be gay. The content of my chosen pop subculture was really beside the point, so I tend not to associate my “outcast” status with the comics and RPGs and Star Wars and music I was into at the time.
2. By the time I discovered punks, comic-cons and other subculture groups, I found quite quickly that I didn’t really fit into any of them, and a lot of the people I met had no idea what to make of me, despite the fact that we all loved the same kinds of music and movies and comics.
How punk is that?
Anyway, that’s why I also have a little trouble with Scalzi’s assertion that True Geekdom is about welcoming all who love geek stuff. In theory, I agree, because if anyone should know what it’s like to not be included, it’s geeks and punks and whatever else. They should be striving to be the opposite of the Popular People who gave them hell in school.
But my own experience suggests there’s a huge gap between theory and practice.
For example, the “no poseurs” mentality is hardly exclusive to comic-cons. Every subculture group has the same basic argument about who’s for real and who’s a poseur, especially in any given music scene. Can you really be punk if you like Green Day? Do Dance Hall Crashers really count as a ska-punk band? Can you call yrself “alternative” and STILL like Counting Crows? Etc.
Now, not everyone I’ve met in such circles is like that. Some of them are very cool people, and were very cool to me when I first started hanging out. But there’s no doubt in my mind that many geeks treasure their community so much that they tend to circle the wagons to keep out poseurs (which I do understand – no one likes a social climber or a hip slummer, and I do think a modicum of sincerity is appreciated, if not required), and resent it when the “wrong people” dabble in their little slice of pop subculture.
And hey, I’m as guilty of that as anyone, especially with music. I may have been a misfit socially in the punk and indie music scene, but like most people in the scene I embraced its ideology as something important and meaningful to me. So I dithered over things like, say, frat guys who loved Nirvana.
Over time, I came to realize that people like what they like, and that it’s more rewarding – or at least a better use of time and energy – to celebrate what we have in common than to try and slap labels on everyone, including myself. But I admit I still slip into that mentality sometimes, usually whenever someone brings up Kenny G, Nickelback or the average American Idol winner. It’s like a gag reflex. But, you know, I’m working on that.
Anyway, the point is that subcultures that define themselves by their “outcast” status are just as prone to hipster mentalities that cast out the uncool people as any of the Pop/Jock high school cliques they loathed.
And that’s a damn shame, Jim.
So I do think Geekdom should at least strive for the openness that Scalzi advocates. Because if any “outcast” subculture defines itself by exclusivity, at the end of the day it’s just another clique that you have to be cool enough to join.
Am I geek enough for you,
This is dF
To summarize:
Peacock resents booth babes who aren’t “real” geeks turning up at trade shows. Scalzi says True Geekdom is about sharing our love of geek things, and welcoming all who appreciate geek stuff, so leave the booth babes alone.
A number of self-proclaimed geeks (many of whom are quick to qualify their opinion by pointing out that they not only hate Peacock’s columns in general) have nonetheless backed Peacock’s basic point: Geekdom is a way of life, and doing cosplay for money or liking the new Avengers film cos it’s trendy doesn’t make you a “real” geek, and we’d just as soon you stay away from us.
Some of the justification for this POV seems based in the idea that real geeks have earned their geekness by (1) liking geek stuff before it was cool and (2) getting picked on and beat up in high school for liking it.
Believe me, I can sympathize. But in the end, I don’t really buy the concept that yr not a real geek unless you’ve been uncool enough to suffer for it.
Granted, my perspective is a little different for a couple of reasons:
1. While I got picked on and beat up a lot in school, it wasn’t because I liked “geek/nerd” things like comics, Star Wars and Doctor Who. It was because I had red hair, I was fat, I had a weird sense of humor and (by 8th Grade) I was generally considered to be gay. The content of my chosen pop subculture was really beside the point, so I tend not to associate my “outcast” status with the comics and RPGs and Star Wars and music I was into at the time.
2. By the time I discovered punks, comic-cons and other subculture groups, I found quite quickly that I didn’t really fit into any of them, and a lot of the people I met had no idea what to make of me, despite the fact that we all loved the same kinds of music and movies and comics.
How punk is that?
Anyway, that’s why I also have a little trouble with Scalzi’s assertion that True Geekdom is about welcoming all who love geek stuff. In theory, I agree, because if anyone should know what it’s like to not be included, it’s geeks and punks and whatever else. They should be striving to be the opposite of the Popular People who gave them hell in school.
But my own experience suggests there’s a huge gap between theory and practice.
For example, the “no poseurs” mentality is hardly exclusive to comic-cons. Every subculture group has the same basic argument about who’s for real and who’s a poseur, especially in any given music scene. Can you really be punk if you like Green Day? Do Dance Hall Crashers really count as a ska-punk band? Can you call yrself “alternative” and STILL like Counting Crows? Etc.
Now, not everyone I’ve met in such circles is like that. Some of them are very cool people, and were very cool to me when I first started hanging out. But there’s no doubt in my mind that many geeks treasure their community so much that they tend to circle the wagons to keep out poseurs (which I do understand – no one likes a social climber or a hip slummer, and I do think a modicum of sincerity is appreciated, if not required), and resent it when the “wrong people” dabble in their little slice of pop subculture.
And hey, I’m as guilty of that as anyone, especially with music. I may have been a misfit socially in the punk and indie music scene, but like most people in the scene I embraced its ideology as something important and meaningful to me. So I dithered over things like, say, frat guys who loved Nirvana.
Over time, I came to realize that people like what they like, and that it’s more rewarding – or at least a better use of time and energy – to celebrate what we have in common than to try and slap labels on everyone, including myself. But I admit I still slip into that mentality sometimes, usually whenever someone brings up Kenny G, Nickelback or the average American Idol winner. It’s like a gag reflex. But, you know, I’m working on that.
Anyway, the point is that subcultures that define themselves by their “outcast” status are just as prone to hipster mentalities that cast out the uncool people as any of the Pop/Jock high school cliques they loathed.
And that’s a damn shame, Jim.
So I do think Geekdom should at least strive for the openness that Scalzi advocates. Because if any “outcast” subculture defines itself by exclusivity, at the end of the day it’s just another clique that you have to be cool enough to join.
Am I geek enough for you,
This is dF