We’ve always looked down upon the goths, punks, smelly kids…

We’ve admired the Jocks, Cheerleaders, and now… Nerds?

For decades, the “nerds” were ridiculed for their declining social status, lack of physical strength, fascination with books and computers, and complete unawareness of the fact that they are usually the scum of high school world. However, somewhere along the lines, these standards underwent a severe change. The nerds became ‘cool’.

Reading the classics, writing, and spending hours watching the History Channel are now acceptable. Access to advanced literature and unique poetry was unlimited. School research papers and essays became a way to show off, now that clicking the “thesaurus” button on the word document is easier than consulting a friend, everyone appears to be a (checked the thesaurus for this one) “cerebral scholar.”

Who is to blame for this? The media? It’s hard to blame the media for encouraging intellectualism when every time you turn on the TV we see some new freeloader trying to “make it big” by marrying a millionaire, or one of those cute little blonde girls eating spiders and slugs in hopes to win $50,000 so they can put off getting a real job for one more year. Inquisitive series like Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Are quickly becoming extinct.

Let’s turn to the music. Music has been an escape for weirdoes and social outcast for generations. It’s difficult to find a person in this world who does not feel a connection to the musical arts in one form or another. These specific social outcasts usually turned to the outer reaches of the musical norm. Away from the poppy, uppity sounds of the mainstream music were the dark lyrics, deep meanings, the subtly eerie sounds that were meant to be admired only by those with the wisdom to understand them.

Somewhere along the lines, these particular bands and artists were picked up by the popular crowd. Gloomy, mysterious music became intriguing to every day, happy people. These bands’ initial meanings were lost, and a false social image became the only thing that mattered to anyone. People started copying intelligent and confusing lyrics into notebooks and online profiles, claiming them to be their very own. Writing meaningless poetry of scrambled, six-syllable words just to sound like they have a higher IQ than the next book-smart poser became the “in-thing”. The kid wearing the black rimmed glasses and hair in the face became the poster child for intellectualism.

Cries for attention erupted on a daily basis. Suicidal tendencies and kids who started cutting stars and designs into their arms became common. How are you supposed to help someone who cuts a happy face into their wrist?

Naturally, it’s quite alright for so-called “nerds” to finally be appreciated for their knowledge and wisdom, but it's quite another for intellectualism to become such a ragingly obnoxious fad in our society. People with real intelligence receive no credit and will eventually become extinct. People need to stick to what they know and who they are, not what popular culture dictates that they should think is cool.