What makes a geek a geek?
I raised a question on Twitter earlier today about the difference between a geek and a snob. Predictably, most people defended the geek as an obsessive, whereas a snob is an obsessive who dismisses others. In other words, geeks are passionate, but snobs are passionate to the point where nothing else can compare. Halsted said in her response that a geek delights in a topic, but a snob delights in knowing more about it and showing that off to others. I agree to an extent. But there are geeks (and you know who you are) who are geeks to the point of elitism as well. Mac zealots, fanboys, Digg comment trolls — they share the same kind of need to show how much better they are than the rest of us.
So the consensus is that geeks can be snobs, but not all geeks are snobs. And it seems that the line between geek and snob can be easily crossed.
And actually, I don’t think being a snob is a bad thing, as long as one doesn’t take it too far. It’s healthy to have strong opinions and beliefs about something, and it’s healthy to have strong disagreements with others. I’ve voiced in a previous entry about the gadget blog rivalry that I’m uncomfortable with such things, and I usually am. But this is mostly because I’m precariously thin-skinned and sometimes take things personally when I shouldn’t. I don’t quite like it when other people are over-sensitive about what I have to say as well, so I understand.
But I digress. If you’ve trained yourself so deeply in a topic to the point where you are in fact an expert at it, it’s almost required to be a little arrogant. And in the field of food snobbery or film snobbery, there’s nothing wrong in wanting and expecting the very best.
The real difference, I think, comes from the attitude. Are you a Steve Wozniak, or are you a Steve Jobs? Both are geeks, no doubt. But Jobs is clearly the snob — he won’t step down, he won’t give face, and he has a distinct air of superiority. I’d even compare Jobs to Bill Gates — Gates is the geek, Jobs is the snob. And we don’t really hate Jobs for it, do we? His arrogance is almost endearing in a way. After all, it’s what makes Fake Steve so damn funny.
Anyhoo, my real point of this whole stupid thing is that I’ve become intrigued over what makes a geek a geek. It’s not JUST an obsession about something. There’s something more. There’s a certain personality tic, a certain curiosity about the world, and a certain desire to move beyond what’s expected. This is why the mainstream-ization of geekery bothers me — just because you know what RAM is doesn’t mean you’re a geek (And don’t get me started on the geek chic phenomenon where people pretend to be geeks when they so aren’t). No, to be a geek, you need to care too much about what RAM is. In short, in order to be a geek, you need to care too much about something, period.
I have more to add on this — I hope to bring my recorder and camera out of the closet and start interviewing people about it — but that’s what in my head for now.
Above photo is courtesy of Ryan King
I think Gates is a snob and a geek from 1984. He is just as unlikely to listen to reason. Look up some interviews, he’s just as perplexed that people would disagree with him and windoze as Dubya is when anyone doubts him and his ludicrous policies. Scary time!
Geeks are ‘dorks’. They tend to be ’snarky’ and ‘frumpy’ and ‘dorky’. I wish I could explain myself better on this one…
Nerds are cool. A ‘coffee nerd’ or a ‘(insert topic here) nerd’ has far more range in terms of being compatible with other humans and ‘endearing’. “I’m a tech / business nerd” speaks to your passion for an otherwise unlikely subject (depending on the context) whereas a ‘coffee geek’ per se tends to have inherent qualities of ‘geekiness’ that make that person less endearing and more…dorky as a cohesive unit / human