John William
Pigeons and Peacocks
1. I'm basically defining 'geek' as somebody who displays passion (for something)
without shame. And of course the whole postmodern subcultural construct of the
'geek' as we as friends know it- us. I think it's fair to say we all put our visual
identities together with geek as a fairly prominent flavour? What is the essence of
this? How would you describe it? How would you define geek?
I think that geek is part of the continuum that includes dweeb, dork and nerd, and I'm
not sure how each is differentiated from the other. Are they the same? I think
dweebs are a bit more effeminate and sissy, dorks are more likely to have a learning
disability, and nerds generally have a massive frontal lobe, but beyond that they
seem pretty interchangeable. My nearly 90-year old gay friend was freaked out when
I used the term geek recently to describe myself, he understood it from the old days
as something to do with scat, or having sex with animals. How times have changed. I
think sometimes geek is used interchangeably with autistic spectrum disorder too,
and erroneously, in my opinion.
Am I a geek? I am enthusiastically obsessive about some kinds of esoteric
information and more than happy to inflict it on people regardless of their interest in
the subject matter. Such topics include: early fat liberation position papers; the
antagonism between Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen
over the decision to eat dogs; the uses of terms such as "bread loaf", "lager beer"
and "a job of work" where the adjective is the same as the noun; High Risk books;
the unholy music of Big Stick, etcetera etcetera, and on it goes. But I seem to
function ok, I'm not lacking in friends, I have social skills and enjoy some moderate
success in life. I think these things mean that I'm not a true geek, and believe me,
I've met 'em. Real geeks exude awkwardness and are excruciating to encounter.
2. Cool geek: oxymoron?
Is a true geek not self aware? Is that actually the meaning of geek? Or can one be a
considered (but authentic) geek?
Yes, cool geek is an oxymoron. Cool geeks are a coded substitute for geek but they
are not geeks. No faux-geek in their right mind would choose to smell, or alienate
everyone they met, whereas real geeks do this all the time. It's a superficial pose
that glamorises downward mobility.
3. Geek iconography...
Tell me about what you see as geek iconography... Objects / clothing ... And why
you think they have become instinsic elements of the geek visual vocabulary! (for me
there's the obvious- thick rimmed glasses, knitted jumpers... But also other things
that to me scream geek. Red telephones!?)
Bow ties and the 80s-50s high school look as popularised by the Porky's film series
and now found predominantly in West Coast white lesbian subcultures. But also
greasy hair, prog rock, scatterplot charts, Neil Gaiman, pirates, cupcakes,
rollerderby, Daniel Johnston, cultural specificity, Japanese pop culture, steampunk,
Cory Doctorow and Boing Boing in general.
4. Geek hero... Your list of em.
Velma from Scooby-Doo, Larry-Bob Roberts, er… I'm not such a fan of the geek, it
seems.
5. Anything else to consider?
Brain dead, sorry!