Comments on false nerdism

I hate style nowadays. I can't stand how dorky things are all of a sudden becoming mainstream. \nI remember a time when nerdy was still nerdy, retro meant old and you got made fun of if you wore plastic glasses. It was a simpler time: There were the people chasing trends, and then there were the few nerds who weren't buying. \nWe didn't have new Air Jordans, but we did have our trusty Chucks. Instead of struggling through early '90s pop, we dusted off the old classics or listened to independent artists. We may not have been interested in shooting the three-point buzzer-beater, but we were passionate about RAM, hard drives and trackballs. \nNow it's all changed. Our counterculture has experienced the worst death possible: assimilation into the norm. The original Converse All-Stars are popular again, spurring a range of designs and colors beyond the standard red, white, blue and black. The music industry is marketing artists as independent when they are just as poppy and money-hungry as Britney Spears. \nWorst of all, technology is trendy. The iPod is featured with moronic dancing silhouettes. Computers are now being described as "cute." Our software is no longer the functional, monochromatic framework that we knew and loved, but a blur of stupid animations. \nI don't want big, bubbly icons that dance when I start a program. I never asked for a miniscule little computer that sacrifices performance for looks. I hate the fact that every time I go to a computer to write, I'm assaulted by a demonic paper clip that asks me what I'm doing and won't seem to die.\nWhat happened to society that made the nerds of the world mainstream? What power of darkness took the place of the outcasts of the society and made it popular? \nI blame Al Gore's invention, the Internet. After years of scoffing at computers and the people who loved them, those non-nerds realized what a good thing the dorks of the world had going. When the technology finally got easy enough for any moron to use, everyone piled on. Now sitting in front of a computer screen for an hour isn't dorky, it's trendy. \nNow we have millions upon millions of people on computers who don't really understand or care what brings them their fashion tips every day. These people only associate JAVA with Starbucks and have never seen a DOS prompt.\nNow all these smug AIM users think they have a right to be considered nerdy because they chat with their friends about how tiny their computer is. I'm sorry -- being a nerd is about being passionate about something that is not part of the cultural mainstream. The new "trendy" nerdism has pushed the truly nerdy out of their place in the world.\nBeing a nerd isn't about style or trends. It's about the strength of an individual who doesn't fit the norm. It's about being brave in the face of mockery, about being solid and unchangeable in a sea of insecure people trying to be "cool."\nMy heart goes out to the dorks of the world who are now caught up in the fray that is style. I can only offer a warning: You are now in the crosshairs of the marketing machine. The only thing that the original outcasts can do is wait it out. There's no telling how long it will take for this trend to pass, but when it does, the nerds of the world will breathe easy knowing that they're back where they belong: in the realm of the uncool.