irony in popular culture

Irony is a beautiful, subtle, vital artistic tool. Sarcasm and nostalgia are poison, and our culture is ingesting them at an ever-increasing rate.

We have gone from the search for Meaning to the declaration that there is none to asserting that even asking the question is pointless. The first two states can produce Art; the last only produces schlock, and pretends that since everything is schlock, that's OK. It isn't.

Hatchling wrote: Totally. I think the best and worst things about the stereotypical geek is his or her ability to get consumed with something trivial, like a game. Games are frivolous in the big picture

Games are no more frivolous in the "big" picture than anything else we do for personal fulfillment. Games are social, creative and entertaining. They free the imagination and exercise the mind.

Of course you need balance in life. Too much of any one thing including work or play can be destructive. Short of obsession, I have no problem with the stereotypical geek.

#GeeksRUs

Hah, I have a friend who married a girl who, in all seriousness, posts things on Facebook like "watching Big Bang Theory and loving it! I am such a nerd!" followed by whatever emoticon is trendy at the moment. Is this what nerdiness has become?

Maybe I am too possessive of what I consider to be nerd/geek culture. When a friend reads ONE book a year and it happens to be Joe Abercrombie's First Law, if he says it is great does that mean as much as when I, who read 30 books and thus had to dredge through the crap as well as the gold, says it is great?