Holding Back "Geekness"

[Doc]

Inspired by the "Do you Withdraw from purchasing items" thread, I was just curious, does anyone not express things that they are fans of out of fear of what others think. Take the Zelda series for example. Do you avoid talking to your friends about it or bringing it up in conversation? Some people, like me, are ashamed to express them. Do you think that having shame is bad?

I personally share very little information about the things I like. My friends have no idea I even remotely know of the Legend of Zelda. They know I like a book series/tv show and and a movie. I have a wider variety of fandoms, but am ashamed to express them.

 

[Ventus]

I always express what I like, and I defend it to the death. Many adages across the Internet will tell you to keep your trap shut in fear of making enemies, but I say to embrace enemies. One can only get tougher by experiencing pain; otherwise you will be a sad sack forever and may even end up not liking anything due to fear of people thinking negative about YOUR LIKES.

 

[HappyMask]

Hey, don't be ashamed. I am a HUGE geek, and I let it all out. I like Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Zelda, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Red Dwarf, EVERY VIDEO GAME EVER and board games.

 

[Sheik]

Sounds like me. Maybe one of the reasons I came here is that none of my real-life friends share my same interests, but I would never tell them I like those things anyways. I'm pretty silent about my fandoms.

 

[tketle]

Depends. For example, I don't want anyone to not know that I love The Beatles and Radiohead. My Youtube obsession though? I'd prefer to stay anonymous...

 

[Shadsie]

Hmm. I have a couple of Legend of Zelda related T-Shirts, one Puella Magi Madoka Magica related shirt... I've read Trigun manga in public... Hmm.

It really depends upon the person. I mean, my parents (who bought me the first LoZ when I was a kid) kinda sorta vaguely know that my SO and I go to "anime conventions," but have no idea what those are. I've explained to my mother over the phone that they're kind of like sci-fi conventions and Comic Con, but for "Japanese animation"... but she really never entirely "got" why I still like cartoons. I've explained to my new therapist some of the things I'm into - I've recommended Zelda games to her (after she expressed a like for fantasy-oriented things) and wound up having to explain my Azumanga Diaoh keychain to her, because she thought it was cute. Upon talking about the "weird costumed people" at this year's Cherry Blossom Festival in Philly (which I didn't get to go to, but she did), I said "Yep, probably cosplayers."

So, there's some limited "expressing of geekiness" toward non-geeks in my life.

However, they don't know that I write fan fiction. The only people in my real life space who know that I write fan fiction are also fan fiction writers (in the case of my guy, I *met* him through fan fiction reading/writing). Still, given that my parents know that I am a *writer* and never got too far in reading my *original* writing whenever I tried to share with them because they just didn't "get" the themes / don't like the Fantasy genre, I've decided not to share even the fact that I write fan fiction with them at all.

 

[Zorth]

I wouldn't hold it back, so if somebody asks me about my geeky sides I'll gladly tell the truth. Although the reason I hardly ever start a conversation about for example Star Wars characters, Zelda games or Anime shows, is because there are very little people IRL that I share these interests with me. So most of the time I won't bother bringing it up since people won't have any clue what I'm talking about, and it's the reason why I come to fan sites like for instance Zeldadungeon, there are tons of more people that I can easily discuss some of my interests with.

 

[Justac00lguy]

"Geekiness" is such an ambiguous term, of course we all know the stereotypical geek, or nerd, but what typically qualifies as having such interests?

I guess the only think that can be considered geeky in what take interest in is gaming and other forms of media such as movies? Though are those interests typically geeky? Gaming has become somewhat of a stellar pass time in modern society that I don't know if it can be counted as that to be honest. I guess people take 'childish' games as being geeky - hence why I highlighted childish because the games aren't really childish but just considered to be that by a lot.

Anyway, if you consider gaming, or some types of gaming "geeky" then I don't necessarily hide my interests, it's just that it has never really came up in normal conversation in real life. I have one friend who is interested in Zelda/Nintendo and I rarely talk about gaming with him. Like Zorth said, there are few people that share such interests (like Zelda) with me, I mainly converse with friends about other topics. This is why I like ZD because there are a lot who do share the interest of this series with me, and it's nice to actually have people to talk about such games.

 

[Beauts]

I often hide my geekness because while I'm not ashamed of it, I'm certainly embarrassed. I tend to reveal it only to people who share my geekness on that particular subject. For example, if someone else says they like Zelda I will go Zelda geek on them and have like a 5 hour conversation about it, but I won't just tell those poor normal (aka lesser) humans that I'm obsessed because I don't wish to alienate them and/or come across as the kind of person who sits in the dark playing videogames. I'm not but that's the impression it would give tbh.

I do not hide my love of music from anyone though. I will saturate people with that kind of stuff. And a lot of my friends know I'm a huge Harry Potter (books) fan. But very few know I write anything and I like to keep it that way because I wouldn't want people to want to read it then pretend to like it because it's by me.

 

[Dan]

Anyone that holds back their geekiness is holding themselves back, only strengthening it as a taboo, furthermore it only deludes you further into believing there is something wrong with it, be proud of who you are, and enjoy your own tastes, if someone doesn't like that and mocks you for it, consider it a filter for people you should and shouldn't hang around with.

 

[Seth]

I mean, I don't 'hide' it per se. However at the same time I don't bring up certain things if I know a friend isn't into that or doesn't know anything about it. So no I don't actively hide it but I don't put it all front and center either.

 

[misskitten]

I wear my geekness as a badge of honor. It's a huge part of who I am, and I'm not going to let anyone shame me for it. Why should I care what other people think about fandoms, games, conventions and so forth? Why should I value any other person's opinion over my own?

People seem so afraid of what everyone else thinks about them, and I guess that's where I have an advantage. Because I went through years of being bullied, of being the social outcast, of being told on a daily basis how I wasn't good enough and would never be good enough. So I stopped striving for their approval, instead I directed my energy inwards, towards figuring out for myself who I am. And once I found that person, I learned what's probably the most important lesson in life; if you are true to yourself, you will attract people who are like you, who accept and appreciate you for who you are, and you will have no reason to hide any aspect of yourself.

Anyone who judges you for what you like are not worth your time, so why waste your time being afraid of their opinions? I'm not going to pretend I don't like something I love, no more than I'm going to pretend to like something I don't. It's a waste of time and energy, if you ask me. My friends don't always love the same things I do, but they will never judge me for loving something they don't.

Way I see it, people should just be proud of what they love and consider any adversity they come across as nothing more than ignorance. Whenever someone tries to tell me something I love is crap or whatever, I simply tell them that they don't know what they're missing

 

[Dan]

I wear my geekness as a badge of honor. It's a huge part of who I am, and I'm not going to let anyone shame me for it. Why should I care what other people think about fandoms, games, conventions and so forth? Why should I value any other person's opinion over my own?

People seem so afraid of what everyone else thinks about them, and I guess that's where I have an advantage. Because I went through years of being bullied, of being the social outcast, of being told on a daily basis how I wasn't good enough and would never be good enough. So I stopped striving for their approval, instead I directed my energy inwards, towards figuring out for myself who I am. And once I found that person, I learned what's probably the most important lesson in life; if you are true to yourself, you will attract people who are like you, who accept and appreciate you for who you are, and you will have no reason to hide any aspect of yourself.

Anyone who judges you for what you like are not worth your time, so why waste your time being afraid of their opinions? I'm not going to pretend I don't like something I love, no more than I'm going to pretend to like something I don't. It's a waste of time and energy, if you ask me. My friends don't always love the same things I do, but they will never judge me for loving something they don't.

Way I see it, people should just be proud of what they love and consider any adversity they come across as nothing more than ignorance. Whenever someone tries to tell me something I love is crap or whatever, I simply tell them that they don't know what they're missing

I want this post pinned up on everyones bedroom walls right now, especially you jamie!

 

[Princess Niki]

I try to as to not upset my nongeeky friends but fail miserably and I am proud of that.

 

[pkfroce]

I used to hide it all the time when I was in middle school. Everyone was talking about CoD and GTA and all that. Those were considered the "cool" games. Almost everyone hated Pokemon and said that it was for little kids. I didn't want people knowing that I play because I knew they'd make fun of me. However, I ended up finding my people. We all liked Pokemon, Zelda, Anime, anything considered "geeky." I was still holding it back at that point though. It wasn't until 9th grade that I started being proud of it. I moved schools and I thought I wouldn't find people, but I was in my Beginning Computers class when we had to photoshop a big banner of things we liked. That's when I noticed people with Zelda, Pokemon, and Anime on their banners. I felt so relieved. We're all friends now and we openly discuss about "geeky" things. I started to step out of my bubble and show everyone that I loved this stuff. There are still some things that I don't want people knowing. Like Pokemon for instance. Everyone still thinks it's a kids game so I kind of avoid talking about that unless I'm with my group. But it turns out that even more people played Zelda and I found even more friends. I have my geeky side and my "cool" side that I can switch between at any time. But inside, I'm a true gamer geek and I always will be. No one can stop that. No one can tell you to not like what you like. It's your life.