Oh God, You're a Trekkie?!
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| Title: | Oh God, You're a Trekkie?! |
| Creator: | Catherine Mori |
| Date(s): | December 1992 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek |
| Topic: | |
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Oh God, You're a Trekkie?! is a 1992 essay by Catherine Mori.
It was published in Data Base v.1 n.2, a Star Trek: TNG zine.
Excerpts
It's sort of embarrassing. Trekkies (or Trekkers, if you prefer - some of us "older folks" have trouble adjusting to that name) have this image problem. People on "the outside" think we are a bunch of maladjusted geeks who live in a imaginary world because we can't deal with real life. Admit it, you're a bit uncomfortable when someone who doesn't know you all that well finds out about your devotion to Star Trek. You brace yourself for the inevitable exchange which goes something like this:
THEM: (Snickering), "Gee, you're not one of those people who dresses up in silly costumes and runs around saying stuff like 'beam me up,' are you?"
ME: "No, I'm not - but I know people who are, and I don't really see anything wrong with it; they're enjoying themselves and aren't hurting anyone. I do not confuse real life with television - I am quite aware that it is science fiction. I just happen to love science fiction, especially when it is intelligent and thoughtful and extremely well done. I do get really, really tired of dealing with narrow-minded jerks who, because they lack imagination and open-mindedness themselves, feel it is perfectly appropriate to ridicule anyone who isn't like them."
Of course, there are people out there who are too heavily into Trek. When I became more involved in fan activities I started encountering them more and more. The line be tween reality and fiction is kind of blurry for a few of these people, but they are generally good-natured and harmless, and I do not believe they are the "typical fans." The vast majority of Trekkies are perfectly sane and do have a grip on reality, they are just having a good time. I have met some very "grown-up and professional" people who have confessed their secret longing to dress up in a Starfleet uniform and live their fantasies - and what's wrong with that? Trekkies are everywhere; most are pretty low-key about their devotion, but it is a devotion nonetheless.
I don't use Star Trek as a test for friendship but I don't think it is a coincidence that all of my friends are fellow Trekkies, or at the very least are open-minded about the show. Anti-Trek people, at least in my experience, tend to be pretty uninteresting overall. They lack a degree of imagination and self-confidence which seems to be part of the Trekkie character. They are way too concerned with what others think about them - the media told them Trekkies are nerds (remember that Saturday Night Live skit?) and the Anti-Trekkers seem to fret a great deal about what others think of them. Call it Nerdaphobia. Some people get stuck in that "Oh, God, what will people think?" mode which seems to kick in around the sixth grade, and they never get out of it. If we Trekkies have one personality trait in common, it is that we "got over" worrying about that garbage a long time ago. Not that we still don't get annoyed when we have to deal with the lame jokes.
One of the really great things about Data Base is that it is a forum for all the low-key Trekkies; the ones who until now didn't participate in fan stuff. Several of us have remarked on the bulletin board that we didn't know other grown-ups enjoyed stuff like this - we all had been made to feel like.. oddities. It has been a real education for me to see how many different fan publications are out there; it is a world I hadn't known existed. We shared a tremendous feeling of pride when the first issue of the Data Base newsletter was published - quite an accomplishment for a diverse group of individuals scattered across the country, linked by a computer bulletin board and our admiration for Brent Spiner. Pretty cool. I've never been embarrassed to say I'm a Trekkie, but lately I'm really PROUD! Maybe one of these days, I really will tell off one of those jerks!