Ahead of the Curve:
Why Johnny Can't Geek
by Mike Peck
by Mike Peck
Walking through Central Park for a few hours can net you many a bizarre sight, but last Sunday I saw the "new technology" industries personified. A sloppy line of runners swept past me, meandering through the trees, across the grass and around picnic tables. They followed a leader who only occasionally yelled out some unintelligible cadence to let those bringing up the rear know where he was.
It was a decidedly unattractive sight. Many of the runners looked like they weren't even close to being in shape for this type of activity -- shuffling forward with their red faces drained of fluids and their feet unable to clear a half-inch height. They wandered pitifully until the leader yelled again and then struggled to find him.
I had no idea what I'd just seen, but friends gave me two possible explanations. It was, depending upon whom you believe, either a Harrier Hash, which stems from a British tradition and was described to me as a combination of "cross-country run, scavenger hunt, and absolute silliness," or a "Fartlek," which was described as a run with only one rule -- follow the leader. Both are apparently laced with their own special brands of cruelty; the Hash can be as mean to newbies as the Internet often is and the Fartlek is at the mercy of the leader. If he or she likes running up hills, you run up hills. The only way to stop that is to take the lead yourself.
Am I the only one who sees this happening in areas ranging from on-line services to multimedia and PC games?
Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines the term geek as a "fool" or "a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake." In our earlier years, the guys sporting varsity letters charmingly applied that to the kids who pulled Dungeons & Dragons all-nighters and only knew what girls looked like because they'd seen them dressed as Red Sonja at the most recent comics convention.
But geek is now a mantle worn proudly by many. To geek is an honorable verb. If you geek, your PC purrs. You always have enough memory. You can play Doom without a boot disc. It's almost -- almost -- chic.
The geeks are poised to take their revenge for all the abuse they endured in junior high and high school. All the jocks got the girls while they sat under fluorescent lights and learned about FATs and DMAs. Now it's their turn. The rest of the world wants to learn this stuff and they have the power. So why not lead them up hills and around garbage cans, shouting out just often enough to make sure they stick with you? Being among the elite is fun.
However, being among the elite is temporary if you don't maintain the support of the masses.
