On not apologizing for geek interests

[nancylebov]

I don't-- people don't apologize for being interested in football, so why should I apologize for knowing a fair amount about golden age science fiction?

Addendum: It seems to me that I frequently hear people apologizing for geek interests, even in geekish environments. They use phrases like "I should get a life" or "too much free time". I'll post the next one I hear.

Told you so: Note the subject line. Unfortunately, I didn't check the time for the addendum, but I don't think it's been much over an hour.

Comments

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I don't know, why should you? I've never head anybody apologize for it, and I've never heard anybody suggest someone should apologize for it.

[gildedacorn.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. Why should you?

[madfilkentist]

There are people who never read a book after they finish high school. Should we apologize to them?

[jimhenley.livejournal.com]

Megadittos, pal. This comes up sometimes when I tell people I play roleplaying games, which I do. When someone cocks the old eyebrow, sometimes asking, "Why would you ever do THAT [at your age]?" I just look them in the eye and say, "I have a ton of FUN playing roleplaying games."

[avram]

Wait, maybe people should apologize for being interested in football.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I think football is a chance to watch big strong guys cripple each other from a safe vantage point, but I'm not expecting this to become a majority opinion.

[avram]

Are you criticizing, or just describing? Because my father once said that he watches boxing for exactly that reason.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Sort of both. It's a description framed to sound creepy.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I used to know a guy who'd been pushed into high school football who hated the spectators for exactly that reason. It would be an interesting starting point for a horror novel.

[gildedacorn.livejournal.com]

And here's another question. What exactly constitutes a "geek interest?"

If it's just a matter of physical vs. non-physical, then why is football non-geek but not martial arts? Not to mention fencing or SCA fighting?

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

That's a good question. Geekiness a cultural invention, not a logical construction.

My first take on it is that geekiness is a love of factual details about anything outside the rather narrow confines of what's considered culturally mainstream. It's not geeky to want details about sports or cars or gardening or cooking or popular entertainment, so long as you don't go back too far in time.

By the way, when I found my example of someone apologizing for geekiness, I wasn't looking for it--I was just catching up on my friends' list.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

The only thing I tend to apologize for is ignoring boring chores in favor of my interests; I wholeheartedly agree with you that if the sports nuts are willing to bore us with baseball/football/basketball/etc. stats, we're entitled to enjoy what we like in addition, or instead.