Are we really that weird?

[Warped9]

For the longest time Trekkers, Trekkies or just regular Star Trek and science fiction fans in general have been widely labeled as geeks and all around weirdos. But is that really true?

The vast majority of folks I know who are into genre stuff look just like anyone else and behave within the norm like everyone else. Yes, some have eccentricities, but then so do most people. And we fans don't seem anymore obsessed than anyone else following their own fascinations, be they sports or gaming or collecting stamps or political science junkies or whatever. Indeed often I find many genre fans to be generally more quiet and unassuming types with keen interests in many things beyond their obsession.

Whenever I've attended conventions those in costume have often struck me as the most normal people just having fun. The strangest ones I've ever encountered tend to be dressed in their street clothes and certainly seem to be odd in one way or another, and they tend to be very few.

When it comes down to it I don't think we're really any different than what passes as average for everyone else. I suspect that many of us are pegged because of the occasional individual that happens to fit a stereotype.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[number6]

Yes. Really weird.

 

[sbk1234]

Well, are we any wierder than the people who bare their chests in freezing cold weather and paint themselves the team colors?

 

[perigee]

Holy Frijole, Warped Nine - exactly how long have you been on the vboard to ask that question?

We have gangfights about whose reality shot whose in the nuts - we have tirades on the width of imaginary engine nacelles. We have four-page diatribes about how the imaginary daughter of two imaginary characters who was mentioned in passing by an imaginary captain in an imaginary show can no longer be the youngest imaginary captain of an imaginary starship in an imaginary starfleet. We have 14 page insult fests about a fat guy who had three lines in a movie.

I could go on. Extensively.

Hell yeah. Batshit insane.

I used to use the sports fan/trekkie argument too. It was convenient on the surface. But it won't be a fair comparison until football goons start writing up commentaries for unplayed games 80 years from now, with the great-granddaughter of Payton Manning as quarterback, slash fiction featuring T.O and O.J., and make little fan films pretending to be The Dallas Cowboys, with nerf footballs and a locker room rebuilt in Mom's basement.

At that point, they'd be getting close.

At that point, I assure you, they'd be taking every calorie of heat Trek fans do.

If this be madness, let us make the most of it. That's the way - uh huh, uh huh - I like it.

 

[Peter the Younger]

Holy Frijole, Warped Nine - exactly how long have you been on the vboard to ask that question?

We have gangfights about whose reality shot whose in the nuts - we have tirades on the width of imaginary engine nacelles. We have four-page diatribes about how the imaginary daughter of two imaginary characters who was mentioned in passing by an imaginary captain in an imaginary show can no longer be the youngest imaginary captain of an imaginary starship in an imaginary starfleet. We have 14 page insult fests about a fat guy who had three lines in a movie.

I could go on. Extensively.

Hell yeah. Batshit insane.

I used to use the sports fan/trekkie argument too. It was convenient on the surface. But it won't be a fair comparison until football goons start writing up commentaries for unplayed games 80 years from now, with the great-granddaughter of Payton Manning as quarterback, slash fiction featuring T.O and O.J., and make little fan films pretending to be The Dallas Cowboys, with nerf footballs and a locker room rebuilt in Mom's basement.

At that point, they'd be getting close.

At that point, I assure you, they'd be taking every calorie of heat Trek fans do.

If this be madness, let us make the most of it. That's the way - uh huh, uh huh - I like it.

Perigee, I like the way you think. And that frightens me.

 

[Cakes488]

I'm normal...it's the rest of you that are weird.... LOL

All the people for the movie -- and I went to the midnight showing on the 8th so you know it was all Trekkies there...were 99% "normal" looking. Except of course for the weirdo (harmless) family standing in front of ...of course me...but it was certainly fodder for entertainment while we were standing there for an hour.

You know I was just talking to a co-worker from Italy today about Star Trek and she said she was very surprised that I was a Trekkie...I get that a lot for some reason...what does that mean??? Do Trekkies have a certain look....NO....so why is that? She also said that Trek is very popular in Italy...I didn't think it was but I was glad to hear that!

 

[Hambone]

Are we really that weird?

Well, I know I am...but it's a "closet" weird.

I used to be a high school band director, and back in the 1990's we played a big medley of Star Trek themes. The day I passed out the music, the high school students immediately started laughing at and teasing the kids they knew to be "trekkies". It reminded me of the pain I endured when I was in in high school, in the early 1970's.

But the music really was nice. It was called "Star Trek: Through The Years" and it featured the themes from Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek : The Motion Picture, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Generations. Even the "non-trekkies" liked it.

 

[perigee]

Are we really that weird?

Well, I know I am...but it's a "closet" weird.

I used to be a high school band director, and back in the 1990's we played a big medley of Star Trek themes.

You sure know how to make an exit from a closet, there, Hambone....
Most people don't do it using a thirty-piece marching band.

 

[EmmanuelZorg]

No i don't think so, ST is just a way of life.

 

[Cakes488]

Are we really that weird?

Well, I know I am...but it's a "closet" weird.

I used to be a high school band director, and back in the 1990's we played a big medley of Star Trek themes. The day I passed out the music, the high school students immediately started laughing at and teasing the kids they knew to be "trekkies". It reminded me of the pain I endured when I was in in high school, in the early 1970's.

But the music really was nice. It was called "Star Trek: Through The Years" and it featured the themes from Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek : The Motion Picture, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Generations. Even the "non-trekkies" liked it.

Well how cute are you in your high school band!

And it reminds me that there's a disabled man who plays the Trek theme here in the city on his trumpet (as well as a stable of other tunes) and whenever I walk by and he's playing it I give him a buck...

 

[Praetor]

Everyone's "weird."

Each person is just weird (read: unique) in specific and relative ways, and when enough people are unique in a specific way they form an observable group that enables others to judge them. When enough other people find it difficult enough to relate to the group, those others brand the group "weird." People find similarities with other people comforting because human beings are community animals, and it's easiest to define oneself as a group or individual by saying what they are not and bonding over it.

It's really that simple. "Weird" is just a lack of understanding.

 

[perigee]

Bingo, Praetor.


Then the next step is, how do you handle the "weird" label?

You can let it freak you out - it is, after all, a form of peer pressure to conform - or you can follow the teachings of Hunter S, who said, "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

This kind of self reflection is pretty much useless, insofar as it only makes you wonder if your personal interests are a perversion, and something to be ashamed of. If you write fan fiction, argue fantasy technology and the minutae of some fictional guy on TV, you are weird. Deal with it. Enjoy it. Wear it as a badge, and then public opinion can't touch you.

Or try to somehow merge the Truggle (heh - Trek and Muggle. The birth of a freak term!) world with your own, and come out feeling somehow out of synch and embarrassed.

 

[Guartho]

We have gangfights about whose reality shot whose in the nuts - we have tirades on the width of imaginary engine nacelles etc etc etc

Oh yes... you'll fit in nicely. We're getting some seriously high-quality newbs in here.

 

[Hober Mallow]

In my case, I complain so much about Star Trek no one realizes that I am actually a fan.

 

[Gepard]

Holy Frijole, Warped Nine - exactly how long have you been on the vboard to ask that question?

We have gangfights about whose reality shot whose in the nuts - we have tirades on the width of imaginary engine nacelles. We have four-page diatribes about how the imaginary daughter of two imaginary characters who was mentioned in passing by an imaginary captain in an imaginary show can no longer be the youngest imaginary captain of an imaginary starship in an imaginary starfleet. We have 14 page insult fests about a fat guy who had three lines in a movie.

I could go on. Extensively.

Hell yeah. Batshit insane.

I used to use the sports fan/trekkie argument too. It was convenient on the surface. But it won't be a fair comparison until football goons start writing up commentaries for unplayed games 80 years from now, with the great-granddaughter of Payton Manning as quarterback, slash fiction featuring T.O and O.J., and make little fan films pretending to be The Dallas Cowboys, with nerf footballs and a locker room rebuilt in Mom's basement.

At that point, they'd be getting close.

At that point, I assure you, they'd be taking every calorie of heat Trek fans do.

If this be madness, let us make the most of it. That's the way - uh huh, uh huh - I like it.

Perigee, I like the way you think. And that frightens me.

Agreed. That's fantastically well stated.

 

[Praetor]

Bingo, Praetor.

Thanks.

Then the next step is, how do you handle the "weird" label?

You can let it freak you out - it is, after all, a form of peer pressure to conform - or you can follow the teachings of Hunter S, who said, "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

This kind of self reflection is pretty much useless, insofar as it only makes you wonder if your personal interests are a perversion, and something to be ashamed of. If you write fan fiction, argue fantasy technology and the minutae of some fictional guy on TV, you are weird. Deal with it. Enjoy it. Wear it as a badge, and then public opinion can't touch you.

Or try to somehow merge the Truggle (heh - Trek and Muggle. The birth of a freak term!) world with your own, and come out feeling somehow out of synch and embarrassed.

Well said. The Hunter is wise.

To quote the man who killed James T. Kirk: "Normal is what everyone else is and you are not."

 

[Hober Mallow]

To quote the man who killed James T. Kirk: "Normal is what everyone else is and you are not."

Ron Moore?

 

[Praetor]

Ouch!

Technically, I suppose he did write the line...

 

[Botany Bay]

Generalising a bit here probably, but here goes :

I've found that the US fans who dress up in costumes and party all weekend at conventions tend to be accountants, real estate agents, etc - normal people putting on the costumes and just having a fun release, and sharing in the fun of being around others who share a common love. On Monday it's back to work, no problems.

Back home here in Australia, I've noticed a lot of the people who turn up to Trek-related events aren't so much into Trek, they are shy, and in some cases "different" people who seem to be attracted by the inclusive message of Trek - they know if they turn up, nobody will give them a hard time, which is a huge feather in the cap for us fans who paid attention to TOS and believe in that kind of thing.

Would an outsider find it all a bit weird? Probably, but I know I couldn't care less

 

[Amaris]

For the longest time Trekkers, Trekkies or just regular Star Trek and science fiction fans in general have been widely labeled as geeks and all around weirdos. But is that really true?

The vast majority of folks I know who are into genre stuff look just like anyone else and behave within the norm like everyone else. Yes, some have eccentricities, but then so do most people. And we fans don't seem anymore obsessed than anyone else following their own fascinations, be they sports or gaming or collecting stamps or political science junkies or whatever. Indeed often I find many genre fans to be generally more quiet and unassuming types with keen interests in many things beyond their obsession.

Whenever I've attended conventions those in costume have often struck me as the most normal people just having fun. The strangest ones I've ever encountered tend to be dressed in their street clothes and certainly seem to be odd in one way or another, and they tend to be very few.

When it comes down to it I don't think we're really any different than what passes as average for everyone else. I suspect that many of us are pegged because of the occasional individual that happens to fit a stereotype.

Thoughts anyone?

I don't believe we're "weird" in comparison to anyone else in our society. We have our niche interests, but most of us have expansive and broad interests as well. For example, I love Star Trek, but I can hold a variety of conversations on just about any random subject at hand. I just take pleasure in watching my favorite television show, just as millions of others do.

A lot of us love the show for various reasons, but in general, because of the show's optimism, it's display of man's innovation and ambition, and human interest stories that we can relate, we find a common ground. There is nothing wrong with that.

So no, not weird.


J.