Nerd Blackface: Do Be Do

I’ve talked about nerds having a trademark enthusiasm but what are we enthusiastic about and why? Most of our costumes are of preexisting characters or stem from a world someone else created. Nerds are drawn to these other worlds because reality is so boring.

We play games, dress up, read books, and watch movies because those have more adventure and intrigue than leaving our cubicle to discuss who was kicked off American Idol. We use our imagination to escape and stop the evil empire rather than watch the follies of Real Housewives. However not all nerd hobbies are created equal.

Nerd interests include but are not limited to: renaissance faires, video games, computers & code, tabletop RPG, MMORPG, LARPing, cosplay, books, comics, anime/manga, TV shows, and movies. Any nerd may be interested in all or none of these. None of them prohibit an interest in ‘normal’ things.

I know a code monkey and a tabletop gamer who love hockey. I know Rennies who love their guns and motorcycles (they had to get the boots somewhere). My friend’s ex studied martial arts and was seriously into anime. There are lots of people who cosplay characters from videogames beloved my muggles.

Nerd hobbies aren’t that different from ‘normal’ hobbies. Video games are immersive fantasy. The guy who plays Madden knows he’s not a football player just like a cosplayer knows he’s not Han Solo. Collecting Dr Who action figures isn’t that different from collecting plates or spoons. If you want to argue time wasting what do fantasy sports accomplish? Lots of hobbies can be classified as timewasters if you’re feeling judgmental. If you’re enjoying it and it doesn’t interfere with your functionality as a person, how is that time wasted?

Yes, there are some people who lose themselves in this because they have a hard time dealing with the rest of the world. They are the minority and you can find them anywhere if you look hard enough. You just see more nerds because we try not to judge each other. The rest of the world does a fine job of that already.

Music: White and Nerdy by Weird Al Yankovic