Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I've Made Nerd!


So, who can guess what this depicts? The talented artist is Mr. B.

A while back, I met a woman at an academic conference who told me all about her proposed dissertation topic concerning nerd culture. Apparently, her anthropology department was not amused. Her argument was "culture" is that which is transmitted from parent to child, and so on, down the generations. Nerds teach their children specific culture, hence, "nerd culture."

There's been a bit of talk about what constitutes "nerd" and "geek," how they may or may not be the same thing, and so on, with quite a few unexpected people getting their geek on. Supposedly, geeking is cool now, so someone has to spoil it by co-opting it.

Wil Wheaton, who is a very polite and smart person with reliable geek cred, says a bit about this.

Meanwhile, keep transmitting. Somebody has to.

2 comments:

JohnR said...

Let's hear it for geeky parenting! :D

It may return seven-fold! I'm a casual Dr. Who viewer. Turned my daughter on to the show a couple of years ago, and now she has a cardboard TARDIS in her room, and every other sentence out of her mouth is Dr. Who related. She's shaming me into catching up on the seasons I missed.

Trace Yulie said...

I cannot stress enough how much I *heart* David Tennant, and how much fun it is sharing this show with my son. During series three, he saved his allowance for several months in order to mail-order a Tardis that makes noises. That holiday season, he got a Doctor and Martha figure set with a few villains. he only plays with the Tardis, though.