"In Japan, the word otaku refers to people who have obsessive, minute interests—especially stuff like anime or videogames. It comes from a term for “someone else’s house”—otaku live in their own, enclosed worlds. Or, at least, their lives follow patterns that are well outside the norm."
"The topsoil has been scraped away, forever, in 2010. In fact, it’s been dug up, thrown into the air, and allowed to rain down and coat everyone in a thin gray-brown mist called the Internet. Everyone considers themselves otaku about something—whether it’s the mythology of Lost or the minor intrigues of Top Chef. American Idolinspires—if not in depth, at least in length and passion—the same number of conversations as does The Wire. There are no more hidden thought-palaces—they’re easily accessed websites, or Facebook pages with thousands of fans. And I’m not going to bore you with the step-by-step specifics of how it happened. In the timeline of the upheaval, part of the graph should be interrupted by the words the Internet. And now here we are." - P. Oswalt
As someone who is old enough to remember what it was like to search bookstores and record stores for the stuff I like, I cannot agree more with the above article.
I waited eagerly for the next issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction to come in the mail. I spent hours in used book stores looking for good books and expanding my literary vocabulary. Some books were cheese science fiction, some was classical literature, still others were about history and science. Lord of the Rings was a cryptic series of books that were not easily accessible by the masses. William Gibson and cyberpunk fiction made little sense to most people because the internet really hadn't yet emerged; but I understood that it was coming. I used to watch the low budget early episodes of Tom Baker Doctor Who on Public TV or CBC. Styrofoam spaceships and sets RULE!
I searched the bins in the used record stores for new exciting music. I made cassette mix tapes from those vinyl treasures. I felt ripped off when I bought a CD for a song I sort of liked and it turned out to be garbage. Then 3 weeks later, the song I liked got old. However, those searches for music turned up awesome surprises and my musical taste grew over the years to something that was unique to me. I met other people who had similar tastes and friendships grew. It was a labor of "like"... and it took a lot of work to find the things I like. None of it made me "cool". The primary reason I like stuff, is because I like it.
Now any-one with an internet connection can do all that work within a period of a few weeks or months. I suspect that kids today do not appreciate it as much because it is easy, at the tip of one's fingers. It requires no effort, and the results seem superficial. It has become ironic or like... "whatever... like as if anyone didn't know... ugh" It's a sad thing because meeting someone else who knows a little out of context quote from Monty Python was really fun as hell. Now it's just "like" on fakebook. Lame.
Nerd has become pop culture.
"Time... to die." - Roy Batty
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/ff_angrynerd_geekculture/all/1
