In celebrating International Geek Pride Day today, you might be tempted to ask, “Who can be a geek?” After all, are people who are passionate about Star Wars and superhero comic books the same as those who love Renaissance Faires and medieval weaponry?
Our answer is simple: Everyone who wants to be a geek, gets to be a geek.
We really love the way John Scalzi put it (which, for us, has become a sort of rallying cry!):
Geekdom is a nation with open borders. There are many affiliations and many doors into it. There are lit geeks, media geeks, comics geeks, anime and manga geeks. There are LARPers, cosplayers, furries, filkers, crafters, gamers and tabletoppers. There are goths and horror geeks and steampunkers and academics. There are nerd rockers and writers and artists and actors and fans. Some people love only one thing. Some people flit between fandoms. Some people are positively poly in their geek enthusiasms. Some people have been in geekdom since before they knew they were geeks. Some people are n00bs, trying out an aspect of geekdom to see if it fits. If it does, great. If it doesn’t then at least they tried it.
Many people believe geekdom is defined by a love of a thing, but I think — and my experience of geekdom bears on this thinking — that the true sign of a geek is a delight in sharing a thing. It’s the major difference between a geek and a hipster, you know: When a hipster sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is to say “Oh,crap, now the wrong people like the thing I love.” When a geek sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is to say “ZOMG YOU LOVE WHAT I LOVE COME WITH ME AND LET US LOVE IT TOGETHER.”
Any jerk can love a thing. It’s the sharing that makes geekdom awesome.
– John Scalzi,Who Gets To Be a Geek? Anyone Who Wants to Be
Indeed, “ZOMG YOU LOVE WHAT I LOVE COME WITH ME AND LET US LOVE IT TOGETHER.”
So, a warm and open welcome to you, fellow geeks; one and all.
Let’s love what we love together.
Happy International Geek Pride Day!
Geekscovery 