Nerds vs. Geeks

This post was nearly DOOMED by Substack mysteriously not saving three paragraphs, which I had to rewrite!. Does the Geek World Order want me to fail?

One of my favorite textposts I ever wrote was about the Nerd-Geek war of the 2010s. Unfortunately I don’t have it anymore, but I wanted to write a Substack about the topic because it’s a good one. I remember, in the early 2010s, the motif of “Nerd vs. Geek” being a repeated dyad in media, especially on the internet. I’ve always been into somewhat Nerdy things, so maybe it’s me, but it’s an important distinction. The Nerd is someone who is typified by their obsession for intellectual pursuits and/or certain forms of media entertainment. The Nerd is also characterized by their being poorly socialized, and at least in the past, often unathletic. The Geek, on the other hand, is the more sociable and “cool” cousin of the Nerd, a sort of crossover between Nerd and Hipster, but is not as associated with intellectual topics as the Nerd is. The Geek is more associated with his enthusiasm over pop culture and tech-savviness.

Back in the 2000s, Nerds dominated the tech industry. Because, most people didn’t care about the internet except for Nerds. This includes social media sites, but it also includes, for example, the Video Game industry. But then, as it grew in popularity, the Geek emerged. The Geek is somewhat different from the Nerd. He’s more eloquent, and more socially adept. He is, therefore, less willing to come off as uncool. Even his nerdy behavior is passed off as half-Ironic. Indeed, like I said, the Geek is hybridized with the Hipster. They both are very dedicated to ironic, casual behavior. The Geek comes into the tech industry only as it becomes more mainstream. Although the Nerds of yore are more innovative and intelligent, the Geek is better at cajoling firms and socializing with workmates, leading them to not only get hired at higher rates but also hire other Geeks at higher rates.

The reason that the Geek was able to outcompete the nerd partially is related to his greater social skills, but it is also because the Nerd was no longer as in-demand as he had been in the earlier days. More and more of these bloating tech companies were becoming dedicated to corporate bureaucracy, marketing, and human resources. Careers which, in themselves, are focused primarily on justifying their own parasitism rather than actually producing things of worth. Another reason is that programming resources became more and more accessible, so you needed less skilled programmers to run these companies. Especially since a lot of what they were doing wasn’t really on the cutting edge. Programmers today are not shy to admit that most of their job is just looking things up on Stack Exchange.

Another thing that was happening was the diversification of Nerds. Nerdiness in the 90s and early 2000s was extremely associated with a stringent and Eurocentric set of manners. For example, the universal use of proper English even in casual scenarios, the use of large vocabulary, and the wearing of more professional clothing even in casual environments. This was all in contrast to the increasingly lower class and Negro standards of “coolness” being promoted by the media over the past 30 or so years. However, by the 2010s Asian Americans had sort of risen out of their cocoons and become seen as “Nerdy” rather than just “Asian”. But they didn’t really have a particular care about these older standards. While Anime had always been somewhat present in Western Nerd culture, this certainly made it more heavily integrated and threatened the spot of Western creations (“Western”) like Comic Books and Sci-Fi Movies and Fantasy like LOTR, D&D, or Harry Potter which originated from entirely Western sources. This change is even seen in the literature. In 2000, Nerdiness was associated with “Whiteness” (kind of a dumb academic term, but whatever) By the 2010s it was most strongly associated with East Asians.

Nonetheless, the Nerd culture was overwhelmingly associated with straight, White men, who usually did not interact a great deal with Women and were stereotyped as being sexist perverts. Geeks on the other hand, are stereotyped as progressive, feminist, cause-y, and politically correct. The Nerd was apolitical while the Geek was political. This is because where the Nerd is characterized by his resistance towards social pressure, the Geek is influenced strongly by social pressure and trends. In fact, the Geek is something of a trend.

Anyways, this difference comes to a boiling point in GamerGate, which I personally consider to be the birth of the online Right-Wing. Suddenly there was an explosion of Social Justice campaigns not only in Tech and media. “Nerdy” things like Star Wars, Comic Books, and the American gaming industry suddenly turned coat on their most devoted fans, and actively called them out for not accepting the march of progress rolling through their things. Nerds aren’t political, but this Geek attack on the internal consistency of their things was taken as an abomination, and so there was a massive reaction. Social Media went from a place which valued free speech and anonymity above all (something characteristic of the Nerd or the “Autist”, who — regardless of personal opinions — decouples abstract ideas from personal preference or the preference of society) to a place which stamped down on speech deemed offensive or unacceptable.

This is not to say that Nerds are a good thing. A lot of Nerds were actual freakazoids who were assimilated into the new Geek regime, which embraced and valued their perversion. For example, those Nerds who “trooned out”. Anime worsened the trooning out because it replaced much of the old Nerd idols (ex: Batman, Frodo, Luke Skywalker) with cute Anime girls who fulfilled a similar hero role (ex: Sailor Moon). The Nerdish autism was also obviously bound to be taken advantage of. It’s a macrocosm of Anglo-Autism working in Anglo societies where everyone believes strongly in the game, and then being taken advantage of by those who don’t play by the rules. Buuuut, the worst elements of the traditional Nerd stereotype are not only utterly meaningless in today’s society, but I would question if they were ever an actual reflection of the intelligent fraction whatsoever, or if they were socially conditioned.

Instead, I believe certain aspects of the Nerd-Jock dichotomy are actually syncretized with the stereotype of the Jew in the Jewish-dominated media of the post-war era. In earlier times, intelligence was associated with being well-bred (which is mostly true). Many of the characteristics of the Nerd remained associated with intelligence — introversion, poor socialization, and obsessiveness — but modern popular culture turns this on its head. The “Nerd” is poorly bred, but is well-educated. The poor breeding aspect, is really in my opinion more of a reflection of the stereotype of the Jew, who resented the Gentile “Jocks” and so erroneously typified them as not only being stupid, but also harboring some sort of resentment for intelligent people (this is part of the general neurotic victim complex typical of Jews. You see this as well in their completely false characterizations of “WASP” investment firms, college boards, and country clubs oppressing them. It’s largely fabricated). This dichotomy was in some ways invented by Hollywood but it served as a determinant of later social dynamics among youths. This was exacerbated by these same people in power promoting a new culture of “coolness” being associated with non-White, lower income, “casual”, and opposed to the old WASP hegemony.

More importantly, the negative aspects associated with Nerdiness nowadays no longer even have any significance. Widespread obesity and the neutering of our physical education programs has normalized being unathletic. Mental illness is not only protected from criticism, but celebrated in our society today. So really, what being a Nerd in any meaningful sense means today is, “not going along with the new trends”. This means, rejecting Negro culture like rap music, shitty brand polyester streetwear, Uber Eats, and Ebonics, rejecting progressive attitudes, and portraying *actually* introverted behavior (calling yourself an introvert is praised, but actually acting like one is not unless you can excuse it with being blessed by the mental illness fairy). This is why Transvestites, despite often being Nerds in origin, are extremely eager to use playground insults like “Nerd” “Dork” etc. Did you know that a Finnish study found that Transgenders were significantly more likely to have been both bullied and bullies as children? Bullying as a general force is not a bad thing, but I would recommend watching this Alt Hype video on the link between “Bullying” behavior and left-wing politics. The Geek in his cushy tech job, affirms his inflated social rank in what I have come to call the “Grande Proletariat” (people who derive little to no wealth from appreciating assets and rely on wage labor, but are nonetheless able to live comfortable and influential lives. An opposite to the “Petit Bourgeois”) by attacking those who do not follow the current thing as well as he does (essentially, inferior by custom), as he is unable to affirm his status above people on the grounds of their being inferior to himself by nature.

Geeks still exist today but have so thoroughly devastated the Nerds that the terms have lost their old meaning. When I consider the archetypal Nerd I consider Isaac Newton. When I consider the archetypal Geek I consider Hank Green. The less effete aspects of Geekdom are not bad but died a long time ago. Like ehh, I like Steve Jobs style. Turtleneck and Jeans. Is this geeky? It’s iOS, so maybe. But this is nothing like Hank Green graphic tee environmental studies degree useless pop science parasite. GOODBEY!