What Was the Nerd?

Today’s American fascist youth is neither the strapping Aryan jock-patriot nor the skinheaded, jackbooted punk but the nerd. The jock-nerd conflict appeared in pop culture to mystify true social conflict around race, gender, class, and sexuality, transforming it into a spectacle of entitled white male suffering. The nerds believe they are victims of a thwarted meritocracy, but their sexist, racist actions align them with the far right.