Is "nerd" such a negative thing anymore? Seems like its been watered down to mean "I play at least one video game".
I use the term "classic nerd" for what was once "nerd" because I havent found another word that covers it.
this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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Forty years later, people figured out that the nerds were making more money than God. Then nerd wasn't such a bad thing.
This is so confusing. Are you saying "classic nerd" is negative then? Your wording is kind of ambiguous. I don't think "nerd" has been watered down, just isn't very negative in the mainstream. I'd say it just means you're very enthusiastic about a certain topic. I don't think folks would call someone who just plays one video game a nerd, unless it's only one video game and they are super into it, like a "WoW nerd" maybe.
I don't think there's any need to gatekeep "nerd" though and require any additional qualifiers on it like "classic". Just seems like you're trying to say "actual" without sounding elitist about it.
I don't think they mean it to be negative. I assumed they mean its used more loosely now and has lost some of the meaning it used to have as a result. They can't find a more fitting word for what they want to say, so they just specify they mean the stricter definition of the word nerd.
I find the "stricter" meaning more ambiguous though. Nerd still applies to many subclasses of people back in the day. If you read too many books, nerd. Played video games? Nerd. Did math for fun? Nerd. Chess? Nerd. So saying "classic nerd" doesn't say much.
And in regards to being negative or not, it was more the ambiguity of their opening. They said the word "nerd" isn't negative anymore because it's watered down. So when they made a non-watered down version, it just seemed questionable in regards to the reason given for not being negative anymore.
Based on their response, yeah, I think it was just poor wording.
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Even today I think nerd still involves some kind of obsession though.
Anyone could be into LOTR, especially after the movies came out. But it's kinda nerdy to have heated discussions whether or not leaving out Tom Bombadil was the right call (it wasn't!).
...it was tho.
Definitely. Thanks for being the one taking the bait. ;)
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Nerd is a compliment as far as I'm concerned.
It wasnt when and where I grew up. The stereotype was still the "Revenge of the nerds" or "Steve Urkel". But I kinda took the label as a shield when people used it on me and I learned what it meant. Why should I be ashamed of enjoying digging into computers and programming? Why would enjoying books or non-mainstream comics be such a negative thing? Why would playing more advanced video games be sad? Or finding math fun? And why was I the only one who would admit to enjoying it at school? I know a few people had some shared interest, but they never spoke of it at school. Also why yell out loudly that whatever I was lost in was utterly boring to them? And when reaching the next level of education and meeting people LIKE ME, the nerd label hardened. They were nerds, I was nerd. I learned about roleplaying games, MTG, even more advanced video games, that stuff that seemed was the domain of most nerds.
The nerd label meant someone who had multiple interests into stuff that average people called "boring". Finding people who called themselves nerds meant that they very likely shared some interests with me, or could teach me something new I would find interesting. So I am still a bit sore that people who bullied me for being a nerd later proudly declare themselves nerds for ONLY playing such a simple game as World of Warcraft when that was popular. It is about using a word for what seemed like it had its own meaning back then, who now have become a synonym for "gamer".
/u/pjhenry1216@kbin.social I dont consider that gate-keeping. I would welcome all and any to enjoy the things nerds enjoy. I just want to have a name for the subculture I joined and found belonging in. Words like goth have meaning still, and it isnt gatekeeping to assume it means people who enjoys dressing in all-black.
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Idk but I now react like they said the N word and I gaslight them into feeling bad for using a slur.
Hilarious
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Problem is for a long time the heaviest trekkies, the really visible ones, were usually not about the idealism at all.
For every quiet idealist who dreams of a better future there's a loud closet fascist who only sees the uniforms, a rigid militarized society with clear chains of authority, a Vulcan philosophy where cold logic overrides empathy, and where the advanced humans swashbuckle about the universe showing the natives their place.
It's getting better now but back in the day Trek fandom was rough and it's taking a lot to shake the image.
Dude, what? I've never heard, and I'm guessing most people haven't heard, of the Trek fandom being seen as fascist or zealous. Especially not the 'heaviest Trekkies'. Are there some who are like that? Absolutely. I've met a fair few through Elite Dangerous, as sad as that is, but it's certainly not the majority. Definitely not enough to have colored the entire movement that way. ESPECIALLY when the major Trek cast constantly push the idealism.
The rest of us are hearing this for the first time.
Not me, I grew up with one of those people and he was awful. And because he was the only Trekkie in the whole town, pretty much everyone I grew up with has a terrible opinion of star trek and its fans. I bet a lot of the negative perception of the show comes from people like that. People like that are not common, but neither are outspoken star trek fans in general, so most people probably have a pretty equal chance of meeting either type of fan.
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I've always been pathologically unwilling to be part of a community. I miss out on a lot, I'm sure. It's not a healthy way to be, and I'm not saying it's a good thing.
It's just that I'm into things like anime and video games and all that nerd shit. Every community has Those People that I don't want to be associated with. They aren't even the majority, but when a person who doesn't know much about anime hears "anime lover" they think of a dude doing a Naruto run in public. When they hear "Star Trek" they think of the comic book guy from Simpsons. Etc.
I know exactly what you mean. I've always wanted to know why our hobbies have the worst people in it.
All hobbies have the worst people in it. I realized one day, that they are everywhere, not just in our hobbies.
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but how can one enjoy Star Trek without those? I mean, that's the meat and potatoes of it
I mean, they obviously don't know all of that. Haters think Star Trek is just people in bad costumes jerking each other off.
Hey it can be about many things
Two years ago during the big /r/NNN protest I met major resistence from other reddit mods in regards to taking our subreddits private. I knew someone had to stick their neck out first if we were going to get the Reddit admins to care about our protest. Many mods were worried about upsetting their users by making waves.
I slept on the decision and woke up early thinking to myself "Wait a minute, these are Trekkies I'm dealing with, the most rambunctious group of policically nerdy fans I can think of. Trekkies stand up to bullies and they do it together. Of course they'll stand by us if we do this."
I reached out to the Daystrom mods asking if they'd join us in going private and they were immediatley in. Same for Risa and the Discovery mods and many other mods of many small Trek subs.
While the protest didn't achieve the goals I wanted and I ultimatley quit the site altogether, we definitley made some big waves, and it was all because Trekkies weren't afraid to do what's right, it really stuck with me the power fans of a "silly 60 year old TV show" can have.
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WWSTD?
What Would Star Trek Do?
Picard on one shoulder, Garak on the other shoulder
Riker on the bed with his pants off
For someone that has never watched any star trek what should I start off watching?
I'd suggest going through a list of the best TNG episodes
I feel like I should like it, but its episodic nature completely ruins it for me.
Deep Space 9 is the first ST show to have season long arcs peppered with self-contained episodes. Since someone else already mentioned Discovery, I think DS9 is a pretty good jumping on point for "classic" Trek.
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TNG, start with the second season. If that's a too preachy and perfect for you try DS9.
I got myself a career where nerd is a prerequisite, and a nerdophilic gf. Nerd and proud!
I needed to see this today. 
trek hasn't been about any of that shit for at least a couple decades. It's just star wars with a coat of paint at this point
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Fine I’ll watch it already!
One of us!
Don't worry we have bloodwine and cookies.
You know, I don't think I've ever had anyone judge me for my love of Star Trek. Sci-fi and nerddom is a lot more mainstream than it used to be.
However... If someone were to flip to BBC America and watch one episode of TNG, and that episode was The Royale, I wouldn't even mind if they judged me for all eternity.
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