According to the book American Nerd by Benjamin Nugent, there are two basic types of nerds... those who are intellectual in ways that are machinelike and those who are considered "uncool" by the popular kids.
Daniel believes that he was a combination of the two {growing up} and I believe that, to some degree, I was probably the latter. I think there are people who have a hard time adapting to "social" norms and stay in the nerd category their whole lives. Others cross over to non-nerd category by learning to live within the social norms.*
The book was very intriguing. It speaks to how nerds have been woven into pop culture and even talks about the "fake" nerd {creative types that are trying to make the nerd-type trendy}.
Quotes from the book:
Daniel believes that he was a combination of the two {growing up} and I believe that, to some degree, I was probably the latter. I think there are people who have a hard time adapting to "social" norms and stay in the nerd category their whole lives. Others cross over to non-nerd category by learning to live within the social norms.*
The book was very intriguing. It speaks to how nerds have been woven into pop culture and even talks about the "fake" nerd {creative types that are trying to make the nerd-type trendy}.
Quotes from the book:
Meaning what you say, and wanting other people to mean what they say, to stop alluding, implying, and teasing, and get down to the point.This quote made me laugh. Daniel and I recently had a conversation about how he doesn't allude or imply anything...
Late nineteenth century America was plagued by a fear of human domestication, of men becoming over civilized and housebound.... For men who felt emasculated by the industrial age, sport was a way of making tough-guy skills important again.
For most of us, high school was about trying to get through each day without getting beat up or humiliated. High school was about survival.
"I love the things I love because I am guided by some untamed voice within me that causes me to have random obsessions. I will follow my individualized obsessions, not trends, and be transparent about those obsessions, even when those obsessions tell me to like things widely considered ugly and cheap."
– The Fake Nerd
It's not that the class has secretly admired Napoleon (Dynamite) the whole time. It's that when the nerd goes over the top into super-nerdy, he makes everyone want to be more authentic and less judgmental.*Unfortunately "Social Norms" are created by society and people that do not fall into these norms are often relegated to the perimeter of said society.
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