Charles Cooke at the National Review has stirred up controversy with an essay about a certain class of elites who display some of the trappings traditionally associated with nerdiness (such as wearing glasses or showing a superficial interest in comics and science fiction), and then use that guise to promote liberalism and condescendingly dismiss other ideas.

A lot of the reaction to the essay has focused on whether Cooke unfairly questioned the nerd credentials of a number of liberals. But there’s an important distinction to be made. The problem isn’t really with pseudo nerds, but with nanny nerds.