From: Chuck Divine <chuck.divine at att.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: 2007 Worldcon
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 10:56:35 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

On Tuesday 24 August 2004 09:59, Michael Walsh wrote:
> Now, one may very well ask, if one doesn't go the the overseas Worldcon
> why not go a, *gasp*, different con. Like Westercon . . . or Windycon .
> . . or . . .well, the list is long.   Could fans be afraid of new
> things?

Sad to say, possibly.  Unfortunately for some good reasons.

United States culture has become more narrow and nasty in my lifetime.
Attacks on people "different from us" (whatever that means) have become
sharper and more frequent.  We see that most obviously now in the political
realm.  Charges fly back and forth.  Some people call Bush an "idiot."  He's
not -- narrow and rigid, I would argue, but not stupid.  Some others call
Kerry a coward.  He's not.  Hell, the guy didn't even have to command a swift
boat in Vietnam. He'd already done his Vietnam tour -- offshore in an almost
perfectly safe major Navy ship.

Back to SF, look at the ways SF fans are all too often treated in the larger
culture.  SF is dismissed by too many literary critics as worthless drivel.
That's so hilarious it says more about the literary critics than SF.  SF fans
are also not always well treated in the larger world.  This leads some of us
to withdraw into smaller and smaller groups where we can get positive strokes
or at least some sort of recognition.

What can we do about this?  Well, I participate in a variety of groups that
have little overlap in membership.  I'm not as active in SF fandom as I was
years ago, but I still read the stuff, watch it occasionally and will talk
about it sometimes with my nonSF friends.  By simply being a friendly,
approachable person, I can be a bit of an ambassador between groups.

What other communities am I significantly active in?  Well, there's that tiny
band of optimists still pushing for space exploration and development.
That's not wholly independent from SF, though, for obvious reasons.  The same
can be said for Mensa, another group I'm somewhat active in.  The Hash House
Harriers are a different matter, though.  While we're all pretty bright and
definitely nonconforming, we are generally different from SF fans as well.
We are a good group.  I invite everybody on this list to come out sometime.
You don't have to be a runner -- we have a walkers contingent as well.  If
you give me warning, I'll even be there to welcome you.

I've also joined a political campaign this year.  I'm doing things (as a
volunteer) for the Mikulski campaign.  I decided to do this to see if I could
contribute something to a person with whose views I share much, especially
with regard to science, technology and civil liberties.  But, obviously, the
Mikulski campaign is not SF fandom or Mensa or hashing.  If any of you would
like to get involved, just ask me.

In general, I think those of us who can should try to get involved in some
group distinct from SF fandom and use our social skills to build bridges with
others.  That's a way we can rebuild our torn civil society.

Best,

Chuck Divine