Thread: Do You Look Down on "Otaku"?

Well Tsurara, i get the impression that you are asked this quite frequently from the class you are teaching, right? and a simple question could have a hundred meanings to the kids that are asking the questions.
plus I think it is better to tell the truth than to lie to anyone, but I am not saying that it is the best course of action. sometimes it is needed to tell a lie now and then.

Have you ever been teased for your hobbies?
Have you ever joined in teasing or looking down on others for similar ones?
Are there some people that even you consider "geeks"?

as to the questions you have asked us here are my answers.
yes I have been teased for my hobbies and it hurts, when they look at you like you are some sort of freak.
NO I think that teasing someone else is uncalled for and it hurts their feelings, as for looking down upon another person, I am ashamed to say yes, I have looked down upon another person.
now this is quite a difficult question to answer as I have been branded with the same contempt as people show towards "geeks", but no I do not see people as geeks because they are just like you and me.

Honestly, since I have no idea what the American view/term for Otaku is I cannot really comment on that. But, I can throw my 2pence worth in still.
Why play down on your own 'geekdom'? Some people find it cool (even though I hate that term), some don't. Its all down to personal taste. Would the kids your teaching hold you in any less regard if they knew you were a 'geek', or would they look at you and think 'one day, I'll be like that'?

As for the questions about teasing, yes I have been teased over my hobbies. I have been seen as a nerd, geek, etc. And thats thanks to DnD and Warhammer, never mind the joys of anime and the like. But it doesn't bother me, as its waht I enjoy. That and when you agree with them they really lose face. As for teasing someone about there hobbies? Well, to a complete stranger - no. To wind up my friends and have a laugh - yes. Its always nice, and a bit of fun, if you do it with close friends as you know it wont be taken personally. So it all depends on the situation, at least for me.
Hope this hepls, even if it doesn't make sense

To make one thing clear: I'm not worried about my kids teasing me. I'm a big girl and I can take a few 13 year olds :P

But I honestly DON'T consider myself "otaku"... I even make fun of people who I think are "out there" in their dorkdom. I comment on the foul smell hanging in the air at Comiket and the local Animate ("aahh, smells like otaku"). I laugh when the school sports day relay race includes a backpacked, hachimaki-wearing, MOE-poster toting nerd costume or when comedians on tv dig into "otaku". I roll my eyes at people I meet who can't hold a conversation about anything but Naruto... I've even avoided people on purpose because their geekiness was just too much for me.

Obviously, some of my kids are the same way...

They're making fun of dorks... but they have dorky interests of their own: which, if they voice, will get them teased by their peers and potentially labelled "otaku".

Meanwhile, the kids who ARE vocal about their interests are teased... sometimes brutally... to the point that they'll do anything to play down or hide those interests just to protect themselves.

It's an issue of degree, perception and the way we treat one another...
not so much one of who's actually a nerd and who isn't.

Originally Posted by tsurara

A sampling of common questions:

Do you like anime?
What comic books do you like?
Do you know Gundam?
What video games do you like best?
Do you have a Wii?
Have you ever been to Akihabara?
Do you know Evangelion?
Do you build models?

[in respective order]
-Yes
-a number of them if i get a chance to get them
-I do
-Rpg,action,first person shooter
-hell no
-"otaku central?" nope, but it does send a creepy chill down my spine
-i do, but i think im the only one here to actually finish it.
-nope. no interest. neither do i collection figurings,

given my answers you can vaguely understand that im a closet "otaku".,
i dont tell my friend i like anime and the like, not because im really ashamed of it. only because theres no occasion or situation where anime is brought up(they dont watch it regardless), but i would think their reactions wouldnt reach the "OMG you creepy freak!" stage, one of them has a friend who likes anime openly and is totally cool with it, and the other wrote a shortstory one time in highschool that was almost in the dbz themed area. a little suspicious but i know he's probably watch it at some point. XD.

As far as my own feelings towards an "otaku", its probably around the ok state. i dont mind them, in fact its a little reassuring to see em around. i do find them to be very brave though, (one holloween, this guy dressed up as a 'shinnigami' from bleach, and i was the only one to noticed, i didnt tell anyone, it wouldnt matter if i did or not, but it was pretty cool). fyi i come from a anime oblivious community (i only know a handful of people who are open about thier otakuness, i just prefer to stick to my own social circle rather than to talk anime , though it would be nice to every now and then)

I've always worn my personality on my sleeve and yes I used ta get tease all of the time for it, but I never could; and still can'; help bein' me. The fact is that I don' care 'bout what others think of me, I don' try ta impress any1. I'm not sayin' that I've never tried at certain points in my life, jus' that for the most part; I never really cared. If people r gonna like me, it's gonna b for who I am; not for who I am not. If they think that I'm "Otaku," then they're gonna think that I'm "Otaku" regardless of what I have ta say 'bout it and I'm not gonna worry myself inta havin' a bunch of ulcers over what others think that I am. Besides it's gettin' ta where the term "Geek" is becomin' less derogatory and more acceptible as "Kool" term, so much ta the point that ppl want ta b a "Geek." I think that the same is happenin' ta the term "Otaku," at least here in the States. Live and let live, is what I say and who cares what others think. They're gonna think it anyways, regardless of what one has ta say 'bout it.

I use the Japanese definition of Otaku and in that regard I do look down on them. Just like extremist/obsessive fans of anything else.
Now, by "looking down on them" I do not mean I go out and search for Otaku to pester. People can have any hobby they want as long as it doesn't negatively affect others.

E.g. I was once thoroughly pestered by an otaku in a comic book store. I was just browsing through the manga section and he kept annoying me with his obsessions. Even when I made it clear that I didn't want to know.

err... it kinda depends on my mood. usually, ill be like, Hell yeah, i like gundam! but ussually only around ppl i already know (ie my skool). but in a foreign area, i play it down a lot. is that bad?

and how could i look down on being a geek when i am one?