I am a geek. I'm not ashamed of it.
I could stop right there and skip writing the rest of the blog, because that's what it boils down to. But this is about explaining something to you, who doesn't know me and isn't in my head and doesn't know my reasons.
I'm not going to quote a lot of statistics at you, mostly because I'm too lazy to do research when anecdotal evidence will serve. So instead of giving you charts, I'm going to talk about myself: one of my favourite subjects.
The thing about being part of a marginalized social group (sit down, shut up, and listen, because yes, geeks in general and fans in particular are a marginalized social group) is that you can't really explain what it's like to be part of one. You can try, but usually if you're part of one it's at least partly a thing free of wilfulness. I mean, nobody chooses to be marginalized, right? Often this is very literally true, if it's something to which you're explicitly, genetically inclined and where you have no choice about expressing it or not. I want to make the obvious comparisons here but I won't, because it's not exactly the same; there are dramatically varying levels of intensity and consequences. Being picked on for being smart/creative/a little weird is an unbelievably First World Problem, but that doesn't mean it's not an issue.
My point... right. It comes down to point of view. You have one that no one else can have. Not exactly. They might come close. You might even be able to explain most of it. But people are sometimes myopic and stupid as well as being innocently clueless and sometimes our imaginations simply fail us.
So I'm not going to try and explain. Not exactly.
No. Instead, I'm going to tell you the story of my life, and let you judge for yourself.
