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Casey Sager
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 675
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 1:25pm | IP Logged | 1
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I have quite a few comic book friends and it always makes me uncomfortable when they refer to themselves as 'dorks" or "geeks". It always comes across as self loathing to me.
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Brian J Nelson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 August 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 365
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 1:33pm | IP Logged | 2
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""Civilian," outside its obvious military use, originates in the world of business, not "pop culture." "Our new manager is a complete civilian. I hope he learns the ropes fast!"It is not intended to exclude, merely to define. No different, ultimately, from "fan." Just the other end of the spectrum."
I wasn't suggesting an origination in pop culture, I was describing impact on people who self identify through segments of pop culture. The problem with the terms is that they are used to describe an entire spectrum. People are placed into a category of being a fan or a civilian. There is no middle ground, thereby leading the road to exclusion. We may judge ourselves by intention, but others will always judge by interpretation.
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Brennan Voboril
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 January 2011
Posts: 1736
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | 3
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Very true JB. My love of reading, my vocabulary, and many of the morals I've lived by came out of comics.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132620
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 1:57pm | IP Logged | 4
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I wasn't suggesting an origination in pop culture, I was describing impact on people who self identify through segments of pop culture. The problem with the terms is that they are used to describe an entire spectrum. People are placed into a category of being a fan or a civilian. There is no middle ground, thereby leading the road to exclusion. We may judge ourselves by intention, but others will always judge by interpretation. •• You're working WAY too hard to turn that molehill into a mountain!
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Michael Roberts
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 14830
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | 5
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Perhaps it's a generational thing, or a regional thing, but I find the stigma around comics has largely disappeared. So much so that I find myself in the position of feeling like a music hipster annoyed with all the bandwagon fans of my former favorite indie band that has gone mainstream. There are still people who look down on comics, but they are the same people who pooh-pooh Taylor Swift or MODERN FAMILY for being too pop culture mainstream.
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Brad Hague
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 December 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 1713
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 3:03pm | IP Logged | 6
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May you be more successful here than I have been attempting to stop the phrase "my bad" to indicate a supposed apology. I don't know why but that really bugs.
It bugs almost as much as when someone intentionally mispronounces "ask" as "aks". I wish I knew the origin of such strangeness.
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Lars Sandmark
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 October 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 3144
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | 7
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I loathe the use of 'nerd', 'geek' and 'fanboy'.
Why not call yourself 'Loser'?
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Jason Scott
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 06 August 2012
Location: Scotland
Posts: 1167
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 6:47pm | IP Logged | 8
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It probably doesn't help that there was a rather silly film called 'Fanboys' that people have taken almost as a point of pride to legitimise their excesses.
I don't like the word either. But my feeling is that it's one of those derogatory terms that people have tried to turn around by taking ownership of it, in a "Yeah!..So what?" like manner.
It's sort of like that argument that Spike Lee had with Samuel L Jackson constantly using the 'n' word. I can see what people are trying to do, but I still think it's rather dumb to popularise an insult.
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Brian J Nelson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 August 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 365
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | 9
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"You're working WAY too hard to turn that molehill into a mountain!"
How so? I thought we were having a civil discussion comparing opposing viewpoints of using labels such as fanboy, nerd, geek, and civilian to identify people as it related to our mutual hobby. If there is something in my viewpoint to which you can provide a valid counterpoint, I am interest in learning. Its much more effective than, "NUH UH!"
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Stephen Churay
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 March 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 8369
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 10:22pm | IP Logged | 10
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I've collected comics for almost 32 years. I've never been called a
Dork, Nerd, Geek or Fanboy. Most simply go straight to the word
"Freak". @Much more endearing of a term.@
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Jeffrey Rice
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 September 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1161
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 10:31pm | IP Logged | 11
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I have been called a "Collector". Many times someone in my office will see Cap and the gang (limited to only a handful of small shelf items), the usual question is, "Are you a collector?" This happened long before the movies made it all hip.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 35786
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| Posted: 12 March 2015 at 11:05pm | IP Logged | 12
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Michael Roberts wrote:
| I find the stigma around comics has largely disappeared. So much so that I find myself in the position of feeling like a music hipster annoyed with all the bandwagon fans of my former favorite indie band that has gone mainstream. |
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When I find REALLY cool t-shirts at Target featuring my favorite characters (something I would have killed for as a kid) is when I have to accept what I have found fun, cool and as an identifier for decades has made it to the mainstream.
I've been called a geek and/or a nerd for decades. Personally, I like that we in that group have co-opted it to be something cool. It is, however, a double-edged sword. Kids who think they're a nerd today have no idea. Many are just doing it to be cool, which is anathema to a real geek. We had no choice. We just were what we were. Often, we paid a price for who we were. Kids today get all the cred for something they never paid a price to achieve but I earned it. I didn't hop on a bandwagon. I just liked what I liked and was simultaneously rewarded and punished for it.
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