...If what deBoer is describing is a permanent state, though, then a certain subset of angry geeks will prove themselves to be exactly what the once-dominant culture said they were all along: myopic and insecure. The hysterical reactions to criticism and challenge do far more damage to the proposition that geek culture contains rich forms, stories and communities worth taking seriously than any critic ever could... _______________________ Seriously. Historically speaking, the worst oppressors often tend to be people who so deeply combined a victimized mentality with militant defensiveness that they then became the new oppressive force without even realizing that they were no longer the underdogs. (cf. Christianity, the Israeli government, Communist revolutionaries, the United States, etc.) And so, in the Current State of Media Geekdom, we now have once-bullied white boys employing their chosen clubhouse (the nexus of Internet technology and entertainment media) against all those others - women, gay folks, trans folks, and other fans outside the Standard White Cisgender Default - who dare to share the clubhouse too. Why? Because territorial insecurity + localized power = tribalism monkey shit. And really - this not only drives people away from the things that said insecure geeks supposedly love (an attitude of jealous exclusivity which, I believe, is part of the point), but also assures a self-fulfilling prophecy of marginalization wherein the oppressing party gets to feel like an embattled minority while also getting to share in the bullys false sense of empowerment. In short, it allows scared boys to enjoy the dubious pleasures of being a self-righteous underdog AND a bully at the same time. We can do much better than that. And MUST do better than that. Especially since - also historically speaking - that illusory power-fantasy tends to burn out quick and leave folks with even less than what they had to start with, once other people get sick of their shit and purity police tear down everything good about that group in the first place. washingtonpost/news/act-four/wp/2014/09/19/geeks-have-become-their-own-worst-enemies/
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:48:31 +0000
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