Hypocrisy in today’s society of nerd versus world
By: Will Murry
Art & Life Editor
December brings many joyful memories: snow, hot chocolate, eggnog, the holidays and quality time with family and loved ones, for those fortunate enough to have them. However, recently for a select subculture (including myself) December has become the most anticipated time of the year. That subculture is none other than the Star Wars fandom.
Being a Star Wars fan myself for as long as I can remember, this recent resurgence of my beloved franchise is the greatest gift I ever could have received and that holds true for many of my fellow fans. Unfortunately, it’s never Christmas without the Grinch, and the resurrection of the famous franchise has brought about the rebirth of Star Wars haters.
Luckily for me I have the privilege of being surrounded and associating myself with Star Wars fanatics; like-minded friends and family who were also raised as Star Wars fans. I’ve never really bothered to surround myself with people who didn’t like Star Wars. I guess I’ve always subconsciously surrounded myself with people who only like the franchise, which I’m forever grateful for.
Despite having the privilege of like-minded friends and family, social media exposes the average Star Wars fan to the verbal stabs and jabs of people who hate Star Wars, who always seem to show up in the comment section of posts on Star Wars fan pages. God forbid the comment sections of your own Star Wars related posts.
I can’t count on my fingers how many times I’ve made a post along the lines of “Really enjoyed the new Star Wars movie, it’s a must-see!” or even something as simple as “Is anyone willing to give me a ride to the movie theater so I can see the new Star Wars movie?” and I get a response like “Star Wars sucks lol” or “Get a job you dirty nerd”. People like these make sure they let the whole world to know that they don’t like Star Wars and they go out of their way to tell the rest of us.
Although, I guess I should take an outside perspective on the whole matter. To put myself in their shoes, who on this Earth wants to be bombarded with a barrage of blubbering nerds worshipping a silly movie franchise? I’m sure I look absolutely ridiculous. In fact, I’m sure we all do. Who would want to see a bunch of nerds line up around stores and worship what is essentially an over-glorified kid’s show?
God forbid these people, including myself, be passionate about something so ridiculous, something so trivial and pointless. Why would we care about something that we have no bearing over? Who knows? Perhaps the phenomenon will only grow from here. We might just start bringing grills and food and camp out in the parking lot hours before a movie premiere or an action figure release event. Maybe, we’ll start wearing colorful jerseys with our favorite side (or better put; “teams”) on apparel to wear while attending these events. Maybe we’ll paint our faces and scream for our favorite characters.
Sound familiar?
I don’t care that other people don’t care about Star Wars. I also don’t care about sports. But just as I respect the rights of others to get excited over whatever they’re into, I expect others to respect my interests, no matter how nerdy. I encourage others to do the same; the world would be a better place because of it.
