The word "geek" used to refer to an oddity or a sideshow freak at a circus, or a carnival performer. They were outcasts; the word was about as descriptive as it was derogatory. It evolved to refer to someone who was socially awkward, there being no real differentiation from a nerd, thus the early confusion. Eventually, the word came to describe someone who was obsessed about a certain facet of pop culture to the point where he was socially shunned. Today, it refers to a guy with a lifestyle that heavily involves a certain activity or special interest. It has taken on a positive meaning and with that, an air of pretentiousness.
I remember a day when being called a geek was an insult, a schoolyard taunt. Man, those were the glory days. Now, when you say "I'm such a geek," it's akin to saying "I'm so cool." If you don't say it with a tinge of irony or humor, you end up looking like a douchebag prick. It kinda makes me sad that's how people look at geeks these days, like you were someone trying to fit in and be cool. Because I've always liked being referred to as a geek, even back then when it was meant to put me down. I wore that shit like a vet would wear war scars.
It pisses me off to hear people throw around the word geek because it's cool now. It takes quite a bit to be a geek. Now, I don't want to equate being a geek to the amount of crap you have because then it'd just be a measurement of financial ability. You know what it does take? Fucking dedication. It's high time we take back the word, people!
You gotta pour hours upon hours of reading comic books, playing video games, organizing your table top pieces, scrutinizing every little detail on your action figures, going over movies frame by frame, knowing as much as humanly possible about any niche interest there is before you go from casual fan to enthusiast and finally to full fledged geek. You can't just play a couple Mario Kart games and watch the Iron Man movies and say you're a geek; there's a hell of a lot more you need to do. So, come on, if we all want to earn our geek stripes, we've got a lot of ground to cover. Let's all get geeky together.
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