Why True Geeks Aren’t Haters

As a lifelong geek (and one who came of age back when ‘geek’ was an absolute badge of shame) I can’t wrap my head around this ‘let’s hate the faux geeks‘ thing. I shall now rant about this state of affairs.

It all starts with my personal definition of geek. In my book, true geekery is loving something so much that you don’t care about the social implications. Now, let’s say that someone is pretending to love what you love. You have but one reaction: talk their ear off.

Case in point. I am a geek about myths and fairy tales. Back in college, I met a hot guy at a bar who was Irish and said his name was Finn. I started talking to him about Finn MacCool, an Irish folk hero. I chatted on and on about the legends and what they mean to the Irish to this day. Do you know this unusual rock formation? No? It was said to be made by Finn. How about the awesome time when Finn met his super-cool wife? Yeah, that was great.

This went on for a while. I was in heaven. A hot guy and he liked myths… Wow!

Then, his friend showed up. I kept talking.

“Hey,” interrupted said friend. “What’s she talking about?”

“I dunno,” says the hottie. “I said she has nice skin and then she just went off.”

BTW, it’s true. I have nice skin.

A picture of Finn MacCool. Because you’re reading my blog so I’m making you learn about him. Get it?

And that, my friends, was a true geek moment. Also truly embarrassing, but that’s besides the point. If you are really a geek who’s into a particular topic, then anyone new who’s showing interest is awesome, period, end of story.

Besides, all your friends and family have gotten sick of listening to you blab about this certain thing, anyway. For the record, you honestly and truly don’t care if the other person is really and genuinely interested in the topic of your obsession, let alone critique the level of said interest. That’s what cool people do because they care more about how things appear than what they are. Not that there’s anything wrong with appearances—and arguably many folks geek about appearance—but the point is, true geeky-ness is a WTF moment. A revel in my stuff moment. A talk to a hot guy about Finn MacCool for twenty minutes moment.

Thus endeth the rant.

P.S. Many years later, I still don’t care that I talked that guy’s ear off. It was the last time I had someone to geek with about Finn MacCool.

The post Why True Geeks Aren’t Haters appeared first on Ink Monster.