The Omega Essays Part 1: GOOMH

XKCD is a comic for nerds, written by a nerd. So what is a nerd?

To be a nerd is, apparently, to have: a love of sci-fi and fantasy and a blindness to the trash that permeates so much of both genres;  an almost fanatical appreciation of the scientific philosophy; a fondness for technology, even in its most worthless and wasteful forms; social awkwardness and poor hygiene; and an immature, sometimes almost dysfunctional, view of sexuality.

But these characteristics can be regarded as symptoms of two more fundamental traits, namely physical cowardice and intellectual egotism. This synthesis should not be particularly surprising - it remains the standard portrayal of a nerd in virtually all media. It is why you will hear nerds complain that all sports are a waste of time, but debating Joss Whedon trivia is not. It is the basis of the 'nice guy dilemma', where a lack of courage, confidence or assertiveness is viewed not as a failing, but as some form of intellectual and moral high ground. It is why anonymous debates on the internet inevitably spiral toward attempts to prove intellectual superiority, where the shit-flinging antics of status-challenging chimps seem like a Galilean dialogue by comparison.

Nerds are, in short, fairly contemptible, and it is for that reason that GOOMH-baiting in XKCD is so offensive.

Pandering to a particular demographic in and of itself is not annoying. PhD comics is quite well regarded, despite the fact it specialises in drawing out the laughter of recognition from post-graduate students. Penny Arcade and a thousand other webcomics are aimed solely at those who play video games, and it is not a matter of contention that they pander to the sensibilities of their audience. Stephanie Meyer, however, attracts veritable hurricanes of scorn for fulfilling the wishes of impressionable teenage girls, a social group that is considered misguided at best, and the cause of all cultural ills at worst.

And like the Twilight author, Randall compounds this problem by being so blunderingly cack-handed. To pander to the egos of nerds, he must make his comic obscure and difficult to understand. The difficult, but more elegant and artistic way to achieve this would be to make comics that are clever, and require some thought and understanding to unlock. The far easier way is to throw in references to things that are considered the domain of 'clever' people. We all know which method dominates xkcd.

Remember though, when you next complain about GOOMH-baiting - it is not so much the references, but the audience at which it is aimed that bugs you so much. You hate nerds, maybe you even hate the nerdish qualities in yourself, and that is why you hate xkcd. After all, if pandering itself were offensive, you would find the overwrought, pedantic and frequently inaccurate reviews found on this and other, similar blogs equally annoying, wouldn't you?