https://thewalrus.ca/when-did-geek-culture-get-so-angry/
IN JANUARY 2011, Jared Lee Loughner, then twenty-two years of age, attempted to assassinate US representative Gabrielle Giffords at a meet-and-greet with her constituents. Giffords survived, but six people died that day in a supermarket parking lot. A few days later, Slate published an essay about Loughner under the headline “Angry Nerds.
As with anything else, a subculture doesn't form in a vacuum. If nerd culture is racist or misogynist, then it was a trait passed on from general Western culture.
I don't know that nerds are more guilty of this than other subcultures though. You'd find racist soccer or basketball fans too.
It 100% exists though. Even on these forums, the number of folks who blow a gasket whenever any woman or minority does something cool in a comic book is pretty disheartening.
Originally posted by StyleTimeGreat Post ST. Agree 100% mate
As with anything else, a subculture doesn't form in a vacuum. If nerd culture is racist or misogynist, then it was a trait passed on from general Western culture.I don't know that nerds are more guilty of this than other subcultures though. You'd find racist soccer or basketball fans too.
It 100% exists though. Even on these forums, the number of folks who blow a gasket whenever any woman or minority does something cool in a comic book is pretty disheartening.
Originally posted by Old Man Whirly!
To me a comic fan since 1972, I see ountless examples of fans working to protect comics’ all-white-men legacy, from Trekkies threatening to boycott a new Star Trek series because the protagonist is a Black woman and the captain is an Asian woman, to people pushing back against Tessa Thompson being cast as Valkyrie, or Idris Elba as Heimdall. I also see anger at women, the attacks on female characters highlight the dark side of "Star Wars" fandom recently reared its head when Kelly Marie Tran, the actress who plays Rose Tico in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," was run off Instagram by misogynistic and racist messages from fans who didn't like her character in the movie. But the episode was not an uncommon one.The beautiful Daisy Ridley, who starred as the heroine Rey, quit social media for a while for the same reasons. I do not know if she has returned. They are far from the first women to be hounded by bitter, mostly male fans who didn't approve of their entry into a fictional pop-culture world that some fans feel a misguided sense of ownership of.
Such toxic abuse has long been a staple of darker social-media realms, fan-group message boards and internet comments pages. Obsession -- loving or poisonous -- has helped fuel the most dedicated fan bases, whose fervor is craved and cultivated by billion-dollar brands. But the scorn heaped on Tran -- a 29-year-old newcomer who has been overjoyed at her induction into "Star Wars" — sparked a backlash of its own.
I see all these ideas as only being one step away from the Incels, White Supremacists and People who stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6.
Short answer: Not any more than anyone else.
Cherry picking the bad parts of any group is easy, and can be applied to almost any group.