Geeks, nerds should not be 'cool'

Ten years ago a person would never admit to being a geek or nerd, but today nearly everybody does. Why? Because it’s now “cool” to be one. Personally, I don’t like this trend because it disturbs the natural order of how things should be. By making geeks and nerds “cool,” they become part of an elite crowd that doesn’t necessarily accept everyone.
Geeks and nerds became semi-cool when they used their impressive computer knowledge to take advantage of the newly-emerging Internet to make a lot of money in the 1990s, but they really became cool when Hollywood put them in the spotlight and made them the heroes, love attractions and stars of movies and television shows.
In the past geeks and nerds were portrayed in Hollywood with characters such as Steve Urkel in “Family Matters,” Screech in “Saved by the Bell,” Skippy in “Family Ties,” Brainy Smurf in “The Smurfs” and the entire cast of nerds in “Revenge of the Nerds.” These characters made people laugh, but nobody wanted to be them.
But then Hollywood noticed that by portraying geeks and nerds as heroes, love interests and stars people instantly felt more of a connection to those characters. The first of these characters were Diane Court, a nerd that was smarter than anyone in her class, and Lloyd Dobler, a likeable kick-boxing geek, in “Say Anything,” the movie everyone remembers as the one where John Cusak’s Dobler holds a boombox over his head playing “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel to win the affection of Ione Skye’s Court.
Court is why Ross Gellar, a true nerd, was at the center of the love story in “Friends” and able to get Rachel Greene, played by true babe and “cool” person Jennifer Aniston, a complete non-geek/nerd who would have been prom queen at any high school she would have attended.
Dobler is why Seth, Evan and McLovin, the super geeks in “Superbad,” are the life of the party and why the jocks and “cool” people that harass them look like fools.
As someone that was on the fringes of all the crowds in school, including the nerd, geek, jock and “cool” crowds, mainly because I was nice to everyone, but who never became a solid part of any specific crowd, I was able observe how each crowd operated and why they were necessary.
As a partial nerd, because I did get good grades, I noticed that most nerds basked in the glory of straight A’s and being the teacher’s pet. Most nerds were loners, or had just a few close friends, usually other nerds or maybe a geek or two. These people went on to become the brains in our society.
As a partial geek, because I enjoyed video games and science fiction, I noticed that geeks interacted well with each other but went out of their way to avoid contact with people from other crowds. Seeing “Star Wars” more than a dozen times wasn’t enough to be a geek, you had to know every line and quote them in real-life situations. Geeks went on to become the innovators in our society.
The jocks I hung out with were usually jocks in the not-so-popular sports like cross country, wrestling and track. They were usually nice, fairly smart and always funny. I got along best with this crowd because I shared these traits, even though I wasn’t a jock myself. The jocks in the more popular sports were more like the stereotypical jock Hollywood usually portrays, although only a few jocks were actually like this stereotype. Jocks went on to become the builders in our society.
The “cool” crowd is probably the hardest group to define. Some people thought they were cool but weren’t and others didn’t think they were but actually were. Coolness is something you either possess or you don’t; you don’t necessarily gain it by hanging around with other cool people.
Several people in the “cool” crowd at my high school didn’t talk to me while I was in school, probably because I didn’t talk to them, but I have talked to them since graduating and I learned they are actually pretty cool. That is why they have gone on to become our society’s leaders.
Although it is wrong to put people in these specific categories and say they are either brains, innovators, builders or leaders, this classification would probably be true seven out of 10 times, in my unofficial estimation.
By putting geeks and nerds in the “cool” crowd, and then putting “cool” people as outcasts where they can’t become leaders, we could seriously mess with the order of life. Geeks and nerds are not meant to be leaders and “cool” people are not meant to think for us.
I didn’t realize our natural social order was getting messed up until my wife, Jenny, falsely pointed out to me that she was a geek/nerd and correctly that it is now cool to be a geek/nerd.
As much as she wants to be a geek/nerd, she’s not. She’s smart, but she’s not a brainiac (just ask her to do math). She has no elements of geekiness, although she would argue that since she’s focused and uses highlighters and colored folders at work to stay highly organized, she’s a geek. Sorry honey, but organizational skills don’t make a person a geek.
I would actually argue she’s an anti-geek, since she doesn’t understand many of my geek obsessions and she’s never even seen the original “Star Wars” trilogy. Jenny argues this point. To quote: “Personally, I think that the ‘Star Wars’ reference has been an over-used assessment of geek eligibility.”
Nice try. I agree that it may be used a little too often, but there’s a reason it is – because “Star Wars” created the modern geek, which did not exist pre-1977.
By claiming to be a nerd/geek, Jenny, whom I think is “cool,” will only make actual geeks and nerds feel like they are part of an elite crowd and won’t become the brains and innovators they need to be. They’ll try to be leaders.
If these role-reversals existed when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were younger, then Microsoft and Apple may never have been invented and our country would have a different president.
Wait a minute. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.