Nerd Processor

The Decline and Fall of the Modern Nerd

The sad saga of how fandom transformed from being about love into hate and intolerance

“Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” 1977. © Twentieth Century Fox

Traditionally, nerds were always portrayed as outsiders looking in: Gazing at the high-school groups of popular athletes and cheerleaders, the cool kids, and all the others who never had a Dungeons &…