The Misappropriation of “Nerd Culture”

The vast majority of the population has never used a programmable calculator before, but that doesn’t stop them from calling themselves “nerd” whether implicitly or explicitly. I’m lookin’ at YOU, T-Swizzle, and YOU, who watched the Star Wars prequel trilogy once, and YOU, who can’t even be bothered to figure out how to write your name in Sindarin Tengwar by first principles but still got your “serenity” in “elvish” on your arm. I hope that tattooist wrote “lembas” instead. “Nerd” used to be a term of social disgrace, and now our culture is subject to both marginalization and misappropriation

I blame the Big Bang Theory for its portrayal of academics. Non-nerds subject us to exotification: look how trendy their glasses are, look how quirky they are, look how exotic their whiteboard work is.  As if polite society would ever accept engineers amongst the ranks of the elite. Do you notice that most members of the federal government have a background in law or business or politics? Real nerds are OPPRESSED by artsies. They misappropriate our language: who uses “troll” to denote a convincing yet deliberate inflammatory comment anymore? They misappropriate our dress: big glasses and “geek” slogan shirts. This is our culture, not your costume! Mostly they misappropriate our work and turn it into cheap memes, sensationalist news articles, and hollow declarations that you “f**king love science.”

Well, no, f**k you. You don’t love science.