Over the past few days, I’ve found a few interesting quotes which I’ve had to comment on and add to the discussion on Tumblr. I’ll post the quote along with the reply, and give a link to the entire discussion. Here’s a couple I thought I’d share.
“We can’t jump off bridges anymore because our iPhones will get ruined. We can’t take skinny dips in the ocean, because there’s no service on the beach and adventures aren’t real unless they’re on Instagram. Technology has doomed the spontaneity of adventure and we’re helping destroy it every time we Google, check-in, and hashtag.” ~Jeremy Glass, We Can’t Get Lost Anymore (further discussion here)
You know what, I wish I had the capability of adventuring and seeing new places. But to be honest, an adventure for me is getting the courage to walk out my door just to go to work.
If it wasn’t for places like Google maps or Tumblr or Instagram or Flickr, I’d never see some of the beautiful things in the world. Because the world actually terrifies me. People that post things on social media are sharing experiences with everyone.
“Geek culture often focusses on an experience of being victimised by some mythical mainstream, when really geeks tend to be some of the most socioeconomically advantaged people on earth. At times, “geek” seems like an oppositional identity, formed on perceived exclusion for liking what is in reality a diverse assemblage of interests, interests that most modern people share at least a few of. When people get defensive about the borders of geek culture, they are getting defensive about a perceived loss of privilege: they are getting angry about having to share space with people who have been denied the ability to make enough disposable income to participate in mass fantasy (namely women and people of colour, who have exploited as sources of free labour for white males for generations). The angry geeks are getting angry at being forced to participate in real meritocracy, for the first time.” ~(via hyggehaven) (further discussion found here)
What geek culture should be is the joy of sharing the love of something. You love something, you find someone else who loves that thing, and you share in that thing with them. It can create some incredible friendships.
Sadly, geek culture hasn’t really embraced that. Geek culture has become something that excludes people, with the premise on questioning whether or not they really actually do like something, or it they are in fact being fake. This is a common practice by those who have a great deal of male white privilege. It’s especially used against women, people of colour, and a high number of women of colour. The common mantra by male white geeks is, you aren’t a geek unless you’re a dude and you’re white. Oh they don’t say it publicly, but the continued questioning of women and people of colour as to why they like a thing (such as attempting to show how much they don’t know about a thing) often is proof that they wish their little club to be exclusionary as possible.
It’s a great deal of cognitive dissonance, because while they make these questions, they lament that there aren’t enough women who like the thing they like. Or that the thing they like isn’t recognized by the main stream.
White male geeks are probably the best example of modern day hipsters.
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