Anthony Dean-Harris

I'd like to follow up with a prior post I made on redefining nerd and geekdom. I don't have much else to add to my point and I stand by what I've said. I just have some more evidence to back up my claims. Last week, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu appeared on The Daily Show and addressed the emmisions bill coming down the pike. While it's a great interview in general, take note at 5:15. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Steven Chu www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day The interview begins with Secretary Chu noting Stewart's nerdy attributes. Stewart, in return, talks about Chu's Nobel Prize. But at 5:15, Chu does something that according to prior definitions of geekdom makes him lose credibility. Stewart alludes to Secretary Chu becoming the Incredible Hulk and Chu completely misinterprets the joke and think Stewart is talking about Superman. Stewart tries immediately afterward, as a good comed...

The 21 st Century has somehow made it acceptable and even cool to be a nerd. I'm not sure anyone knew specifically when it happened but there's been a pride movement that's spread popular culture all about geek advocacy. In 2009, the signs are everywhere. Humorist John Hodgman declared the current President of the United States, Barack Obama, the first nerd president . The nerd cause has icons of various appeal. We have the ringleader of Web 2.0, Kevin Rose . We have the genuine superpower nerd of Bill Gates (he who needs no hyperlink). We have the self-proclaimed musical Hip-Hop nerd, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson . San Antonio has its own local geek celeb (if you consider celebrity he who has a blog on a daily newspaper's website), René A. Guzman . And we have our lifelong geek who somehow became a spectacular phoenix, rising from the ashes of a career charred in the hate of lower geeks to become our paragon: Wil Wheaton . Geek culture has had ups and...