What Type of Geek Are You?

The Self-Respecting Geek vs the Raging Geek

Lorie Witkop
My husband and I are both geeks and we don't shy away from that fact. We do geek things and we have geek friends. If you wish to classify us, I'm a book and anime/manga geek while my husband is a computer geek who also enjoys role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. I must say that a part of our security in our geekdom comes from the fact that we view ourselves as Self-Respecting Geeks. We enjoy our geekly pursuits in a way that doesn't impose on others and generally don't draw attention to ourselves. Many geeks lack this subtlety, and are unfortunately Raging Geeks. Let me give you a few examples to illustrate the difference:

The Self-Respecting Geek...watches the latest Star Wars movie at a matinee showing a few weeks after it comes out. He certainly wants to see it, but doesn't feel any need to rush after hearing the lukewarm reviews.
The Raging Geek...attends the 12:01 a.m. showing on the day the movie is released dressed in Jedi Knight robes.

The Self-Respecting Geek...owns a t-shirt or two with a comic book character or Monty Python reference, but wears them under a button-up shirt in public.
The Raging Geek...wears Star Trek insignia pins on his trench coat.

The Self-Respecting Geek...preorders the latest Harry Potter book from Amazon.com so that it will arrive on her doorstep as soon as possible.
The Raging Geek...camps out at Barnes & Noble until 12:01 a.m. on the day of the book's release, brandishing a "magic wand" and wearing black-rimmed glasses and a temporary lightning-scar tattoo.

The Self-Respecting Geek...creates a Dungeons and Dragons character, has fun playing a campaign, and leaves the story behind to go home.
The Raging Geek...signs all of his e-mails with the name of his character and also responds to that name in general conversation.

The Self-Respecting Geek...buys DVDs of her favorite anime series.
The Raging Geek...dresses up as Sailor Moon at an anime convention.

So which camp do you fall into? If you're a Self-Respecting Geek, hold your head up high and take pride in your ability to play well with others. If you're a Raging Geek, you might want to tone it down a little. I'm sure your friends and family love you just the way you are, but even they cringe when you put on the Sailor Moon skirt.

Published by Lorie Witkop

Lorie Witkop is a freelance writer from Michigan specializing in online content.  View profile

1 Comments

Post a Comment
  • John Gugie10/26/2009

    Self-Respecting Geek here!

To comment, please sign in to your Yahoo! account, or sign up for a new account.