Long time since I’m writing something new. Seriously, Uni is eating my time faster than piranhas can eat my Maths teacher! Anyways, I wanted to comment on an article that Week-End Scope (WES) Magazine published in the 10-16 September issue, on page 98-99.

The article was titled “Quand la technologie et les mangas rendent geek”. Translation “When technology and mangas make you a geek”.

Nice, catchy title I should say. It talked about two of my top favorite interests. However, what I didn’t like was the interviewees. Quoting a paragraph, “En effet, dès le départ, les geeks ont été considérés comme ‘ringards’, ‘insociables’ et ’boutonneux'”. Quite derogatory I should say.

Then, there is the interview of a person named Soura, who apparently doesn’t know what it means to be geek, when he says “Ces personnes sont trop moches. Ils n’ont aucun but et ne se diversifient pas. Bref, moi je vis ma vie à fond tandis que les geeks sont scotchés à leurs machines et s’endorment même devant”.

Seriously? These people have been watching too many Steeve Urkel episodes, and have seriously mixed up the definitions of “geek” and “nerd”. What’s with the bad image geeks seem to have in Mauritius?

Quoting some definitions off Wikipedia for “Geek“:

• A derogatory reference to a person obsessed with intellectual pursuits for their own sake, who is also deficient in most other human attributes so as to impair the person’s operation within society.
• A person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media. Geeks are adept with computers, and use the term hacker in a positive way, though not all are hackers themselves.
• A person who relates academic subjects to the real world outside of academic studies; for example, using multivariate calculus to determine how they should correctly optimize the dimensions of a pan to bake a cake.
• A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who passionately pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.
• A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest. This definition is very broad but because many of these interests have mainstream endorsement and acceptance, the inclusion of some genres as “geeky” is heavily debated. Persons have been labeled as or chosen to identify as physics geeks, mathematics geeks, engineering geeks, sci-fi geeks, computer geeks, various science geeks, movie and film geeks (cinephile), comic book geeks, theatre geeks, history geeks, music geeks, art geeks, philosophy geeks, literature geeks, historical reenactment geeks and roleplay geeks.

and for “Nerd“:

• Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests that are age inappropriate rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. Therefore, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by peers, or will tend to associate with like-minded people.
• […] The stereotypical nerd is intelligent but socially and physically awkward. In film and television depictions, nerds are disproportionately white males with glasses, braces, acne and pants highly lifted up.

For me, a geek is somebody who is highly interested in something, and tends to pursue his or her interests, not some kind of freak that nobody wants to associate with! They just tend to do what they like, more than everybody else. We all have a geek in ourselves, unless you have no passion at all!

I know that, because I’m a geek too. My passions being computers, technology, gaming and manga.

A geek will not stand out in a crowd. They are just normal people, who look like normal people. Ok, they might have a kind of weird jargon sometimes (using ‘lol’ in real-life?), and crack jokes that most people will surely not understand (unless the other person is a geek too, or shares the same passion). But that doesn’t mean that they are anti-social. Do you think the guy below looks abnormal? No? (YES! THE GLASSES!) He’s a famous geek though! He’s cool and richer than Midas. Now, at least! 😀

(OMG! Steve Urkel glasses! And what’s with that serious expression? Scary… :s)

So please, stop thinking that geeks are people with a serious looks problem and lone wolves that stick in their dark corners, peering out at you behind big round glasses behind a high pile of books!

Side-note: The people interviewed seem to have got the definition of “manga” wrong! Manga are books you read, while Anime (short for Animation) are the movies or episodes that you watch. One of the interviewees says “… c’est grâce a l’émission… […] … Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Nicki [sic] Larson ou encore Cats Eyes”. These are all ANIMES (although manga versions exist)!

Go get your definitions straight, journalists and interviewees! The purpose of this post? Because I think that some of the people who got interviewed offended geeks like, and I was being vengeful. There, I said it!

Got comments? You know what to do! 😀