Well of course you do. You're reading this. But does everyone who claims it?
A front-page A&E (Lifestyle) article in today's Chicago Tribune, "It's A Nerd World," notes that a lot of people are claiming to be nerds because it's become trendy. And, with heaps of irony, nerds are fighting back, not wanting to bestow this glamorous position on just anybody who's seen Avengers three times.
I have to admit, it does seem that a lot of actors are pulling up any gawky, awkward moment they had as teenagers to claim nerd credit these days, but I mostly roll my eyes. There are a few real geek actors out there--Nathan Fillion, James Franco, John Barrowman and Felicia Day come immediately to mind. But a lot of others seem to want it so they can fit in. What an amazing thing.
OTOH, in the Superman article I posted in the Convoluted Timeline thread, Mike Sangiacomo interviewed a variety of Cleveland officials who admit they never read a Superman comic book. When I was a kid, that wasn't very likely.
Of course, the best part of the article is that they tie it into C2E2 in Chicago this weekend, and say:
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I dunno it isn't something that really bothers me. As a longtime sports fan I've seen it for decades now. In the sports world they are called front-runners. These are the guys who grew up in the '90s and their favorite football team is the Dallas Cowboys, baseball team is the Yankees, and basketball team the Chicago Bulls.
I might roll my eyes when I hear someone claiming to be a nerd because they play Madden or like you said have seen Avengers 3 times, but I don't see any reason to get worked up over it. Like some people do.
It's pretty funny that anyone would be outraged at someone "stealing" what has been a derogatory term.
A lot of the references seem to be to having been one in the past, as if it's something they have overcome now, so I'm not sure it's always a badge of current pride.Or it's said so people will say, "You? I don't believe it!"
The sports analogy is a pretty good one, although it was never derogatory to be a fan of those teams. I don't know, though, anyone who still claims to be a fan of "America's Team" is probably a real Cowboys fan. They haven't been rewarding bandwagon-jumpers for a long, long time.
-- MSA
I don't know, as I recall the prelude for most of my torment in school was the cool kids suddenly taking an interest in what I liked so that they could mock me later.
That's a pretty invested approach to take. When I was in school, geek stuff was so far beneath their notice that anything good about it wasn't important. Of course, there was a lot less to be geeky about back then.
Felicia Day wrote a song about the concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFhgupR565Q
The problem with it, of course, is that if you have to TELL people you're cool, you're probably not.
-- SA
Oh, certainly not to the point that nerds (or geeks or dorks) were ridiculed, but it was there. It was decades before he New Orleans Saints won their first playoff game. They are the fans I first remember wearing paper sacks over their heads.
I listen to the Tom Grieve Show on the radio (the Texas Rangers color guy), and he constantly comments on how many Ranger fans they see on road games these days. Not surprising after they went to 2 World Series in a row. You are right though band wagon fans never got it as bad, since sports have always been popular.