Frakking Labels! A Geek..Nerd..Oh Who Gives a Fuck Manifesto

June 19th, 2012 by csdaley

If you read my blog with any regularity you know how much I respect and admire Felicia Day. It is not easy to have a career in Hollywood. It is particularly hard to do it on your own terms. She has accomplished a lot with intelligence and sheer force of will.

Recently, Ms. Day made a country music video and posted it on YouTube. She used the words, “Gamer Girl” in the title. A shit storm of negative comments ensued. Now Ms. Day does not need me to defend her. Honestly, I didn’t even particularly enjoy the video (this shit happens. You are not always going to like everything). My problem comes into play with the people upset over the words, “gamer girl”. Somehow this label is wrong. How dare Ms. Day use it. Some people were mad because she called herself a gamer. Others were mad because of the usual gender issues. Some people were just being assholes for assholes sake.

I personally don’t give a shit. You can call yourself whatever you want. The label shouldn’t matter. Do you think of yourself as a geek, a nerd, a gamer girl, jock, hipster, superhero. Good for you. Whatever floats your boat. You want some new label? Make it up and call yourself it.

Labels only hurt when they are used to separate. Sadly, this seems to be happening more and more in the world I rotate in. It seems quite a few people in the world of “geek” don’t want all the newcomers. They start throwing out words like pandering or fake (a lot of people accused Ms. Day of this. A ridiculous concept). I have only one thing to say to this, “get the fuck over yourself.”

I love people. I have spent a lot of my life isolated in my likes and beliefs. I have never fit into any box. For a long time this left me uncomfortable. I rarely socialized. I had few friends. It’s different now and truthfully I relish meeting new people. I don’t care if they don’t know who directed The Avengers. I don’t care if they think Jar Jar Binks is cool (I might question their sanity though).

I run six miles a day. I am a very good basketball player. I played baseball as a kid. I watch football on Sunday like a religion. If this was all you knew about me you would be tempted to label me a jock. Except it is only one small part of who I am.

Growing up I would actually go on trips to cities around the Bay Area just to visit new comic stores. My comic book store was my church. I saw Star Wars a bazillion times. I wrote hundreds of comic book scripts of my favorite characters before I reached high school. In third grade I pretended I was a tv executive and programmed a Saturday morning cartoon block. I wrote out descriptions for every show I would have on. I would then run them by my few friends and give story updates. If they didn’t like a story I would cancel its ass and write a new one. I invented a baseball simulation game with dice. I then populated said game with comic book characters (I will never forget when Wonder Man hit his 63rd home run).

I am a geek. I am a jock. I am a computer nerd. I am a writer. I am whatever the fuck I want to be when I wake up in the morning. None of it matters. What matters is I accept people. I like people. I am kind. I try to set a good example for my students. I live my life the way I want to. I won’t be boxed in by labels and I will ignore anyone who thinks their labels can keep me out. I am who I am. I worked damn hard to get to this place. I welcome anyone who wants to join me. I won’t hold it against you if you would rather not. I wish people could be nice. I long for a world where people are looking for ways to not be a jackass. Ms. Day doesn’t need me to defend her but I will. She is awesome. I am awesome. You are awesome.

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