I Wear my Geek on my Sleeve

Today is May 25th. Towel Day in reverence of Douglas Adams. Also, an event known as Geek/Nerd Pride Day has cropped up.

Wikipedia has a small article about the topic, which apparently originated back in 1998.

I object to this notion of a holiday for several reasons. The main one being that I wear my heart and geekhood on my sleeve every day of my life; I do not need a special holiday to feel warm and fuzzy about the choice I make or the life I lead.

Whenever I leave the apartment I also have my ipod, from which I am usually listening to an RPG themed podcast. 9 times out of 10 I am wearing a geek related T-shirt, be it Firefly, The Joker, Superman, or MC Chris (which I am wearing now.) In the cooler months I wear my Jayne hat with pride, and more often than not my Bag of Dice can be found in my man-purse along with either an RPG book, or some sort of geek novel (currently the Dresden Files.)

I work in a public venue, a coffee shop in the heart of downtown, and have taken to adding my personality to my job by bringing in D&D minis and placing them around my register. Most people get a kick out of them and make comments on how they like the colors or whatever and get a genuine smile to wear to start up their morning. On May 4th I had Yoda and Darth Vader wishing "May the Fourth Be With You" a cheerful holiday I have no problem with as it is not taking a stand for anything but rather celebrating little more than a play on words which ties in with Geek Centric film loved the world over.

I wear my geek on my sleeve.

A day of pride, a holiday, feels like it is an attempt to legitimize geekiness. As though on the other 364 days I am an outsider, but on this one day, it is okay to be who I am. Perhaps it is not intended this way, but that's how it feels. I do not need a day to tell me "it is okay" to be a geek because I do not apologize for being one.

Also, seeing a Geek/Nerd Pride Day is celebrated only by geeks, observed and recognized only by geeks, seems a bit masturbatory.

Finally, the "Manifesto" on the wikipedia page really bothers me. The "Rights" listed of all geeks basically all boil down to the same thing: Be Yourself. The "Responsibilities" that shortly follow however then tell you what type of geek you should be and that you should be out to prove your geekhood at any given moment. Perhaps the thing was written as a joke, but if the point of the whole thing is to inspire a sense of pride in who one is, it should not then dictate rules on who one should be.

I do not want a Geek Pride Day. I do not need a Geek Pride Day. I do not need a self-fellating pseudo-holiday to make myself feel better. I am happy with who I am already, today, and every other day.