Yes, I think you are right about this particular article, and maybe also about the other examples you list.
But I am not sure I agree with your conclusion that "nerds are actually doign pretty well in popular culture right now." To me it seems like your examples are the exception rather than the norm. Too many times I find myself reading the exact same stereotypes repeated over and over again: yes, a lot of technically inclined people are shy and their discomfort around other people shows in non-standard behavior.
But instead of showing empathy toward otherness, this and other cliches are too often used as an easy to hit target for laughs and ridicule.
Not so much in this example. Perhaps not in some of the others you name. But as long as "the nerd" is presented as some kind of peculiarity of society, as long as we get described with the same stereotypes again and again, as long as we're not accepted the way we are, I think it's worth pointing out that we don't like to be stared at, we don't like to be laughed at, and we don't like to be labeled. We deserve better than being looked down on as "just the tech guy" who's just good enough to help set up the new wireless router.
Again, I agree that this article is for the most part actually pretty good. We need more articles that portray us fairly. But even this one still yields to the temptation every now and then, for instance with the choice of the photo, an allusion to table-top RPGs ("Hatch was playing the role of dungeon master") and the n-th iteration of certain cliches ("He, too, has a memory that all nerds share: Late at night, light from a chunky monitor illuminating his face, fingers flying across a keyboard, he figured something out.")
But I am not sure I agree with your conclusion that "nerds are actually doign pretty well in popular culture right now." To me it seems like your examples are the exception rather than the norm. Too many times I find myself reading the exact same stereotypes repeated over and over again: yes, a lot of technically inclined people are shy and their discomfort around other people shows in non-standard behavior.
But instead of showing empathy toward otherness, this and other cliches are too often used as an easy to hit target for laughs and ridicule.
Not so much in this example. Perhaps not in some of the others you name. But as long as "the nerd" is presented as some kind of peculiarity of society, as long as we get described with the same stereotypes again and again, as long as we're not accepted the way we are, I think it's worth pointing out that we don't like to be stared at, we don't like to be laughed at, and we don't like to be labeled. We deserve better than being looked down on as "just the tech guy" who's just good enough to help set up the new wireless router.
Again, I agree that this article is for the most part actually pretty good. We need more articles that portray us fairly. But even this one still yields to the temptation every now and then, for instance with the choice of the photo, an allusion to table-top RPGs ("Hatch was playing the role of dungeon master") and the n-th iteration of certain cliches ("He, too, has a memory that all nerds share: Late at night, light from a chunky monitor illuminating his face, fingers flying across a keyboard, he figured something out.")