My Own Private Sunnydale

Why are we nerds so possessive?

After reading this post on the always excellent Be A Debaser blog, I was struck with that question. Sure, I debated some of Ms. Rayon's finer points, but overall I agree with him -- because I'm a possessive geek like that, too. Now I know his argument was more about how The Postal Service has sold out -- but what is the great crime of selling out if not trying to appeal to a larger audience while making an embarrassing amount of money? Selling Out, the cardinal sin amongst the huddle masses of the misunderstood, is betraying the loyalty and faithfulness that us nerds display for those PopCult figures we adore. It's not necessarily a good thing, but it is a defining trait amongst hipsters, nerds, geeks, and dorks of all varieties: We take pride in what we enjoy and, more importantly, we take pride in knowing about what we enjoy; specifically knowing about it first.

Here's a recent scenario in my own pathetic shell of a life that will serve as an example: I enjoy the Upright Citizens Brigade and their now defunct TV show on Comedy Central (as should you all -- buy it here!). I watched it when it was on the air (starting with the pilot, no less), bought some tapes off eBay when it got cancelled, and even bought the first season DVDs. So I've been a fan for a while. One of my friends recently discovered them and enjoy their great absurdist antics. Now I could have simply said "they are good, aren't they?" But no, I didn't go that route. Instead, I said they were good and then not so subtly implied that she was a late comer to the scene. Was it necessary? No. Was it a petty little jab worthy of a shrew from some Jane Austen novel? You betcha.

So why do we nerds mark our territory in such a way?

What wrinkles this theory is that the aforementioned friend is something of a nerd as well. She also tries to find new, undiscovered, and great movies, music, TV to tell the rest of us about. If she were some naive waif who simply happened upon UCB in between a marathon viewing of Will & Grace, I probably wouldn't have been as hard. After all, she would've been one of the uninitiated who don't strive for excellence or originality but instead just something to fill up 30 minutes of entertainment (ie, like most normal people). So why is it such a contentious thing amongst nerds? Why are we all striving to be the Marco Polo's of Pop Culture?

Maybe it's because we nerds are vicarious by nature; we find something we like and take pride in that thing as if we ourselves made it. Look at the amount of money, time, and costume preparation that goes into Trekkies. They took something they enjoy and made a whole universe out of it, even becoming the basis of a lot of their social worlds; same with Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, even the Buffyverse. Fanfiction is all over the place -- people attempting to inhabit the worlds they love so dearly.

Nerds and Hipsters are maybe one chromosome different fro meach other -- it's usually the wardrobe gene that allows the hipster to wear the "Camp Towunka for Young Jews" shirt ironically while the nerd actually went there and still wears the shirt 13 years later. What defines them, and what also lays a lot of the groundwork for their world outlook and interactions with people, is their tastes. It's not who you are that matters, it's who you like. Who you read. Who you listen to. Who you watch. Who you quote. Sure, all of these things are just portals of escapism from a dreary existence of mundane banality, but because they are glimmers of genius and reasons for excitement in world lined with filing cabinets and disappointment, they take on an even greater significance. Also, for most of these people, obsessing over these works is as close as many of them will ever come to producing something original and creative themselves (see: High Fidelity for further edification).

This isn't just relegated to the acne prone lovers of Sci-Fi -- music snobs are probably the worst offenders of this Territorial Nerdery. Instead of being happy that good music is out there, being listened to, enjoyed, and spread like a social disease in a musty dorm, they suddenly become the snooty Cultural Truant Officer. When I said I was listening to (and very much enjoying, I might add) Sufjan Stevens's Greetings From Michigan the Great Lakes State a whole year and a half after its release, one of my friends replied with "You're getting into that now? Wow." Now, I didn't say that I had just discovered this guy, or that my friend should check him out; in fact, I was trying to bond with my acquaintance over this artist. Instead I got a cold Shot Down sandwich on rye with a side of You're An Idiot.

I have tried to cut down on this snobbery. Instead of pointing out how I loved The Arcade Fire before everyone else, I just encourage more people to listen to them. I'm not going to put down someone for discovering the genius of Arrested Development a little late in the game, but instead just quote all the good bits and pray with them that it comes back for a third season. I'm going to falter, occasionally insulting people and getting pissed off when my brilliant cultural foresight doesn't get recognized. But I am going to try harder and realize that no work of art belongs to just one person, and unless I'm the one that actually created it, I really can't take too much credit no matter how many times I post on a message board.


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Seriously though, do you know how many muthafuckas tried to recommend The Arcade Fire's Funeral to me AFTER I already told everyone about it? Bullshit, man. Pure bullshit.