When Nerds Go Too Far

Stuff like this is what gives us all a bad name.

Listen up: Ninety-eight percent of nerds, geeks, dorks, gamers, Trekkers, "Jedi," comic book readers, anime fans, fanfic authors, convention-goers, and, yes, even furries, are sane, well-adjusted people with families and careers who are well aware of the line between reality and fantasy. We simply enjoy science-fiction or fantasy or one of their attendant activities as a hobby, and even those who are a little extreme in their devotion are mostly harmless, perfectly nice people, and still contributing members of society. We're not all losers who live in our parents' basement, never know the touch of a woman (because nerds are always straight in the popular imagination), and have absolutely no idea how to interact with/handle reality, thus retreating into perpetual adolescence and fantasy.

Because of the nature of the material and the openness of many science-fiction/fantasy media fandoms, we probably do have a high proportion of misfits, but misfit does not automatically equal crazy. Oh, we've got crazies, all right, but they'd be crazy regardless of their interests. And, frankly, there are crazy people everywhere, in any group you can think of. As with stupidity and the obnoxiousness, craziness is a trait well represented in every race, creed, color, class, profession, and pursuit; no one group has a lock on the maladjusted or the insane.

(Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to my garage and complete my life-sized Battlestar Galactica Viper. I must complete it before next week, when the Cylons will attack and I will have to take over as wingman for Apollo. *LOL*)

(Via Bookninja)