Ian’s Updates

Merchandising (Including Shadow World and History Farce Merchandise)

Bloodsucker: The Play

Chav: The Play

Facebook

SOWYGO 5: Out Damn Geek

Besides being a nerd on a lot of other things I’m also an atheist nerd. I enjoy the debates and the arguments – provided there’s a chance of actual points being made and them going somewhere-  and as a ‘militant’ atheist I have been overjoyed by the rise of the New Atheism as represented by the Four Horsemen (Dawkins, Dennet, Harris and Hitchins).

I see some parallels between the new atheist movement and the idea of being proud to be a geek. There’s something of a campaign to raise awareness of atheists and atheist groups, to help them know they’re not alone (in the US and other more heavily theistic nations) and a lot of ideas have been taken from the homosexual movements of the 80s. The idea of coming out of the ‘closet’, of making public declarations of non-belief, to take a stand and to let other people know that you exist.

Geeks are already getting ‘out there’ but we could all do with a bit more of that, outing ourselves and not hiding it like it’s something to be ashamed of. Starting conversations to help people understand, even making pamphlets that explain our obscure hobbies in ways that people who aren’t involved can understand.

Speak Out With Your Geek Out has been a great act of self-affirmation within the nerd community but has it actually reached out to ‘normal people’ that much? Let’s keep the spirit of the idea going and reach out to someone who isn’t likely to have seen it or been aware that it was going on.

Read a book at work or on the tube, have a conversation with your family about their hobbies, then bring up yours, put your hobbies on your CV, make a facebook, twitter or G+ post to everyone and let them know you’re proud to be a geek!

Normal blog/gaming service resumed tomorrow!