Ask Erik: Episode Thirty-Eight

Here at Ask Erik we've spent a lot of time reading novels and comic books, playing video games, and watching television and movies in order to amass a deep vault of pop culture knowledge.  While constantly trying to still gather new information, it only seems prudent to share some of what we have learned to help solve some of the world's greatest questions.

How do computers work?  How can a tiny percentage shift in a DNA sequence cause such differences between species?  Can I recycle my own paper?

Once a week Erik tackles a question asked to him and tries to answer it in a method that handles the topic with the respect and attention it deserves.  Failing that, he'll at least try to make it funny so you don't regret reading it.

To Erik: Are you a "hipster," a "nerd," a "geek," or what?

Full-on confession time, this wasn't a question directly asked of me, but rather a thought sparked by the reading of an article posted on the blog of a friend of mine, Glorious Glory Times.  However, I'd thank you not to click it until you're done with my article, because his writing puts me to complete and total shame.  I'm serious, going from reading his posts to one of mine would be akin to watching Lorde's Royals music video and then sitting down to watch Alison's Gold follow-up attempt to Rebecca Black's "Friday" song.

Um, for the record, only click that last link if you want your brain to explode out the back of your head in a desperate attempt to find something, anything, that makes sense in the universe.

However, in my friend's (also named Erik) post located here he discusses nerds and hipsters, and his points made me examine my own life and try to establish some kind of classification for my own rankings.  However, before I can, I feel I have to learn more about just what it means to be a nerd, a geek, a hipster, an intellectual, or any number of other terms that I've heard thrown about in the world and in entertainment. 

For a while I used to wonder if being afraid you're a hipster is the surest sign you aren't one, much like wondering about your own sanity proves you aren't insane.  It's a fun thought to bounce around, but I don't think there's much merit to it.

To me, a hipster was always somebody who tried to exclude others from an interest, usually by establishing their own superiority in knowledge while debasing newcomers' knowledge as laughable.  If you're a big fan of a certain band's musical style, the hipster will tell you that they're simply copying some obscure band you never heard of.  If you like a video game, the hipster will inform you that it's simply derivative of an older game they own.  God help you if you try to express interest in a movie to a hipster, because they will equate your love of that film with the same disdain people have for dung beetle's love of rolling around balls of waste before telling you about the strange black and white Italian film that already did the same thing (and better).

It occurs to me that I might be confusing "hipster" and "snob."

Now, here's the definition that the Urban Dictionary gives:

"Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. [...] Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers..." et cetera.   

I'm in my 30's, and I'm still not really sure what "counter-culture" is.  I do appreciate art but always have a hard time getting into indie-rock.  I love being creative and using witty banter, and I'll freely admit that there are some mainstream things that make me wish people would try just a bit harder to enjoy smarter entertainment (see: any Michael Bay film).  However, I like to think that I don't dismiss other people simply because they aren't as deeply involved in the same interests I have, and I love to share other examples of things I think people would love.  "Oh, you liked this one particular article that belongs in a category of entertainment?  You'd probably really enjoy this other one, because it's either very similar to the one you stated you enjoy in the exact same way the original appealed to you or it's a precursor/follow-up where you can see how that aspect of the first you saw has grown over time."  Then I usually loan them my copy and forget to ask for it back.

The title of "nerd" has also been applied to me many times through life.  I have many interests and hobbies that people would categorize as "nerdy interests."  I play video games, I take part in tabletop RPGs, I read comic books, I enjoy science fiction and fantasy shows, books, and movies, and I write a blog that has broken down everything from My Little Pony to Barb Wire.  I read beyond my standard age group in school and wrote essays and reports years past my current school level.  I would solve algebraic equations in my head in school and have homework completed before class got out, and I was never particularly good at sports (with the exception of golf and softball).

By the old definition, I was most certainly a "nerd" and still am to this day, but today's "nerds" really do seem to be such a wider spectrum, and I think, as the other article indicates and I've heard other people state, that a "nerd" is simply someone who has a great enthusiasm for their interest.  A nerd enjoys not only soaking up as much of something as they can like a sponge, but being willing to drip it onto anybody around it at the slightest provocation to do so.  You can have comic book nerds, certainly, but there are history nerds, architecture nerds, sports nerds, and one could even argue that those overly muscled people at the gym are simply fitness nerds.  

I wouldn't dream of telling them that, because I'd probably get wadded up and stuffed in a trash can like so much paper waste.

I've had a wide variety of interests, hobbies, and collections through the years.  I've often stated through my life that I collect "collections" more than anything else, with a little bit of everything from old camera equipment to state quarters to rocks I could polish with a rock tumbler.  I would absorb knowledge on whatever topic fascinated me at the time until something new caught my eye, at which point I'd put the first on a back burner to come back to at some undetermined time in the future, which is why any time I take part in a garage sale I'm left wondering where half the stuff I put out even came from.

I will freely admit, however, that I tend to drift alongside the mainstream whenever it comes to my interests.  I don't necessarily hate mainstream subjects (in fact, there are some things that are popular in the mainstream that I greatly enjoy), but I do feel that in order to be so widely appealing to a majority of the people something sometimes has to sacrifice what makes it unique or special so as to not lose any of its audience.  Certain things manage to avoid this, or are clever enough to spread what made them special over a more mainstream approach like Nutella on a piece of white bread.  

I enjoy searching through the surrounding items that orbit the mainstream, finding things that focus more on what appealed to me in the mainstream object and holding those up as great examples of the subject matter.  If I think one particular actor in something was able to do something clever in a short scene, I'll dig in their career until I find something showing them doing it on a larger, more focused scale.  Books, anime, movies, and other objects all get the same approach, with my identifying just what I enjoyed about the original and looking to see what else would fit into that same place in my brain when it comes to enjoying it.

Again, though, I try not to look down on others for enjoying the mainstream (though it's hard sometimes and I'll admit I've completely failed to hide my disdain for certain major summer blockbuster films in recent years), but instead bring them to the things I've found to see if they'd enjoy it as well.

A slightly unrelated comment: Several people I know have told me that they like to just turn off their brain and enjoy something for what it is, whether it be CGI robots smashing each other up or a heroic action film that simply disregards logic and common sense.  I can appreciate wanting to not have to think too much about something while enjoying it, but I try to make sure there's something there I could pay attention to if I wanted to later.  I'll freely admit I have a special love (in a non-ironic sense) for some truly terrible movies.  If someone told me that the Reb Brown Captain America movies were being shown somewhere, I'd load up as many people in a car as I could and drag them over to see it and revel in how terrible it is.  Having just watched Billy The Kid vs. Dracula, I could watch that movie all day long even though it is, by all sensible standards, utter and complete garbage.  I enjoyed a movie about Nazis on the far side of the moon, and it probably had more scientific facts wrong than any other movie I've seen.

But even in those truly terrible films, there's been something I could appreciate, whether it's early attempts to create special effects that now look completely cheap and unbelievable by comparison to today's standards or simply seeing how far a ridiculous idea is willing to be pushed until it reaches absolutely ludicrous.  Many times I've approached something in the mainstream with a hopeful attitude, not wanting to be disappointed, and as it continues on I find myself becoming either more and more bored with the subject because it feels hollow past the bright flashing lights and loud explosions or I feel offended because it seems to be trying to keep things "realistic" and then having major plot points be completely impossible (i.e. car chases in Venice or an exploding iceberg sinking to the bottom of the ocean).  

But I'm getting entirely off track here.

Geek, I feel, is a title I'm slowly drifting further and further away from, as I tend to think of geeks as being more technology-based than I am these days.  I can replace the memory in my computer or talk basics, but my days of debugging Windows or setting up my own personal server for online games of Phantasy Star Online are pretty much behind me.  ...well, I could set up the server again, but I'd need people to play with.

I think that I am, by most accounts, a nerd, and it's a title I frequently use on myself, but I'm willing to admit I slide into hipster territory on what I would say is a common occurrence, but I sincerely hope I don't become the type I've always imagined, dismissing people along with things I don't find interesting.  I do hold myself and much of the entertainment I enjoy to a rather high standard, but I tell myself it's because time and money are too precious to simply waste, and I want to get the maximum enjoyment from things.  I rarely feel superior to anybody when it comes to my interests and hobbies, and I enjoy discussing and debating subjects to allow for other opinions to shape my own and allow me to appreciate things from a new perspective.  

So, I guess I'm a nerd first and a hipster second (but hopefully the fact I admit this will keep it from surpassing my nerdiness), with geek a slowly dwindling third.  I'm probably more of a dweeb than I want to admit, but hey, I can live with that.