Geek Pride Day

How did you celebrate Geek Pride Day? Geek Pride Day was on Tuesday, so I’m a little late in mentioning it, but I’m a geek and geeks can mention their day any old time they want! I love all things geek, of course, but I was especially glad to see the “Basic Rights and Responsibilities of Geeks” as defined the world’s best evidence that geeks rule the world: Wikipedia.

Following are the Rights and Responsibilities as defined by Wikipedia, with a few thoughts of my own thrown in (in italics):

Rights:

1. The right to be even geekier. That goes without saying.

2. The right to not leave your house. Now, maybe this is true for me. I am a bit of a hermit. Plus I make my living by sitting in my chair all day. So… I don’t interact with people a lot.

3. The right to not like football or any other sport. As someone that adores football, this wouldn’t apply to me. However, my adoration of football borders on the obsessive, and this does follow along with one of the “responsibilities” below.

4. The right to associate with other nerds. I associate with all kinds of interesting, wacky, and groovy people. But I would guess most people (geek or not) do the same.

5. The right to have few friends (or none at all). LOL! Yes, some geeks have zero friends. I have always had a few good friends. I’m not one of those people who have tons of friends, although I do think I can make friends easily enough if I’m in the right environment.

6. The right to have as many geeky friends as you want. Well… duh.

7. The right to be out of style. Very true of many of the geeks I know. Fashion isn’t something we care about. What? That shirt hangs like a tent on us? But it’s comfortable….

8. The right to be overweight and near-sighted. I hate to say it, but it’s true. It’s a right of mine! It is!

9. The right to show off your geekiness. Geeks love to chat about their particular brand of geekiness. And when people don’t care (or think what we’re saying is wrong), we naturally say that “they don’t get it.”

10. The right to take over the world. This is a mantra of many a geek, and while I think geeks as a whole really do rule the world, I think individuals should not seek to take over the world. Personal opinion.

Responsibilities:

1. Be a geek, no matter what. Here’s the thing, if you’re a geek you just are. It’s in your bones, you don’t have to subscribe to it or try to be a geek. You just are. So this responsibility is like saying, just breathe.

2. Try to be nerdier than anyone else. Here’s one I don’t agree with. I don’t know of a single (real) geek that tries to be nerdier than anyone else. They are what they are, but if they try to be into the latest geek thang, then they cease to be a geek. They jump into something because they love it, not because they want people to like them or to be popular. Because not being popular is the right of every geek! Read on.

3. If there is a discussion about something geeky, you must give your opinion. Geeks are the most opinionated of the world, which is generally a good thing. It’s only when geeks refuse to listen (which is often) that it becomes obnoxious.

4. To save and protect all geeky material. Yes!

5. Do everything you can to show off geeky stuff as a “museum of geekiness.” This is why Star Wars figures remain in their original boxes, Currier & Ives dishes are displayed, Godzilla has a special cabinet, and Henry VIII action figures are proudly displayed.

6. Don’t be a generalized geek. You must specialize in something. This is very important. You can’t love everything, or try to be all things to all people. Part of being a geek is that you realize you aren’t popular and you are very okay with this. It doesn’t stop you from being who you are. Geeks are never concerned with being popular. They know they aren’t, and that’s okay because it’s part of being a geek.

7. Attend every nerdy movie on opening night and buy every geeky book before anyone else. This is for younger geeks, or at least ones with some money. Not all geeks live in their parent’s basement, and it’s for those of us that can’t run out and buy everything geeky immediately when it comes out. But you can bet your bippy that we will find the geekiest way to get such goodies frugally! Rummage sales, people!

8. Wait in line on every opening night. If you can go in costume or at least with a related T-shirt, all the better. Ditto what I said for #7.

9. Don’t waste your time on anything not related to geekdom. Very true. One thing I love about geeks (and about being one) is that we don’t give a rats ass if something is in style or what all the people are talking about or cool. If we don’t sincerely dig it, we never try to pretend we do.

10. Try to take over the world! We already do.