Izzie Corley

Cartoonist

Every few years, we all collectively say that “cringe culture is dead,” and yet time and time again it rears its ugly head: Making fun of people who are passionate and nerdy but in the wrong way becomes cool again. In light of this, I come to you with a revised call to action: Cringe culture may not be dead — but with your help, we can all kill it.

As society slowly and inconsistently — yet surely — progresses towards not hating people who are different than us, why are “the wrong type of nerds” still such an easy target? A perfect answer would be multifaceted, beyond the scope of this viewpoint and my not-yet-fully-developed 22-year-old brain, so here I will focus on one part of the equation. It’s because we’re acting on animal instinct, an evolutionary leftover from the dawn of man, where acceptance was survival. If our semi-arboreal nomadic ape troop didn’t accept us into their embrace of mutual protection, we were as good as leopard food.

These days, that same instinct comes out through shifting the heat of judgement away from us. If you can pinpoint a better, easier target of social scorn, then you can bond with your fellow apes by having a laugh at their expense. Two birds killed with one stone, right? Your animal instincts are now satisfied that you will not be eaten by all the various predators of the African savannah, because you are accepted by your clan.

I come to you bearing good news: You don’t have to listen to those instincts! This is the 21st century, and our lives work extremely differently than the lives our species adapted to live! You will not be eaten by leopards if you aren’t cool and normal! Better yet, if you take the energy once spent finding the dorkiest among us to ridicule, and apply it to making the intentional choice to unapologetically be yourself, then you will attract all the people who connect with the person you truly are — all the people who might not have known to look to you for friendship had you hidden yourself away in instinctual ape-troop-leopard-eating-based fear.

Sure, you will still face judgement and scorn. That’s just an inevitable part of life, no matter what way you live it. However, if you share the most earnest version of you with the world, you could be facing that judgement and scorn with the support of people who actually get you.

Now I need all of you to go Kubrick-stare yourself down in the mirror and say “I’m cringe and that’s based” ten times fast.