Like many people, the recent death of Robert Carradine had me thinking about the movie that he’s most famous for, 1984’s Revenge of the Nerds. While some aspects of that movie are now looked at as problematic, and probably rightfully so, the underlying message of the movie still holds up. “Nerds” aren’t bad people. “Nerds,” like everyone else, should not be made fun of, put down, insulted, bullied, picked-on, or whatever other form of insult that people can do.

While Revenge of the Nerds did shine somewhat of a light on “nerds,” it wasn’t really until TV’s The Big Bang Theory where nerds were truly accepted and not mocked. At least, that’s how I see it. That TV show came out 23 years after the first Revenge of the Nerds movie. It did so much for geek culture, as it’s often referred to. It made it seem cool for people with interests in science, science fiction, comic books, cartoons, and board games to go on with their interests.

As someone who grew up in the 1980s, I didn’t have it that easy. I was (and still am) a bit of nerd, or geek, or whatever. I like comic books, Star Wars, Star Trek, GI Joe, Transformers, Doctor Who, Professional Wrestling, obscure TV shows and movies, and various other things that don’t fit into “mainstream.” I was often belittled for my interests. And that didn’t just happen outside of my house.

When you’re brought up to believe that the things that you like aren’t good, it’s difficult to take pride in things. When you hear “your cartoon is stupid and the animation isn’t as good as what I watched” you can develop an inferiority complex. It can be very hard not to hear those dissenting voices, even long after they’ve stopped speaking.

In previous entries, I’ve discussed the bullying that I faced. I’ve discussed how it impacted me then. The ridicule had residual effects on me. While I do have a my circles of friends and outlets to discuss my interests, I wasn’t always that lucky. And some people still aren’t. It’s taken me (very) close to 50 years to be (mostly) comfortable with who I am.

Being able to freely discuss things that are of interest to you is a wonderful feeling. Being able to freely discuss with it others that are also interested in those things is even better. The Internet wasn’t a thing when I was a kid in the 1980s. While I was using America Online to discuss Professional Wrestling with strangers who went on to become lifelong friends of mine in the 1990s, the Internet wasn’t as readily available as it is today.
We hear way too many stories about people being cyber-bullied today. The Internet, while a wonderful thing, can be also be dangerous. I don’t have any tolerance for intolerance.

I’m (mostly) okay with myself nowadays. Yeah, I have things to work on. My self-esteem is okay. My social life is good. I have the outlets that I wish were available 30 years ago. I survived the bullying. I have the scars to prove it. I’ll be okay. I guess the point of this entry is that I want to thank Lewis Skolnik, Gilbert Lowe, Dudley Dawson, Harold Wormser, Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, and the rest of their friends for making it okay for people like to me realize that it’s okay to be different.

Thanks guys, and thank YOU Robert. I’m sorry that life was rough for you at times. You left this place better than you found it.

Robert Carradine (3/24/1954 – 2/23/2026).