Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 10:31:25 -0400
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Blish... Re: Enterprise - the end is nigh!
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

At 06:00 AM 4/20/05 -0700, Drew Bittner wrote:
>Ted,

>As to the last point, "discouraging potential readers"
>is something I've considered with regard to comic
>books and roleplaying games-- which are not held in
>high regard. It is not quite the same in sf, but there
>are people who lump all of these together-- perhaps
>again because they associate sf so strongly with
>conventions that they think are weird.

I'm not sure that "weird conventions" and "not held in high regard" go
together of necessity.  Consider Shriners.  They have some of the weirdest
conventions I know of, but they are generally held in fairly high regard.
Why is that?

I think it's the charitable work.  That buys them a great deal of "leaway"
for their odd behavior (dressing in silly hats in public, holding impromptu
parades, getting seriously drunk and doing stupid things like riding
Harleys on the 9th floor of the Holiday Inn (actual occurrence...I worked
in a motel in Va. Beach during a Shriner convention), etc.).  They are seen
as "eccentric" or "high spirited", rather than "weird" and I think it's the
support of the children's hospitals that do it.  The same thing is
happening with bikers...who were once seen by most as criminals and rebels,
but are increasingly shifting to upstanding citizens who do a great deal of
charitable work.

Perhaps fandom needs to follow this pattern and make charity a bigger part
of what they are about?  Not just internal charity, like the funds to bring
poor but deserving fans to big cons, but external charity like the Clam
Chowder concerts at Darkover that raise thousands of dollars for places
like Children's Hospital.  The charity could even be in line with SF, such
as supporting medical research into advanced prosthetics, or gene
therapies, or anything else that helps those in need and might actually
work, but sounds like Science Fiction.

Just a thought...

-- Mike B.
--
FLW: I can sing for you...please don't eat me.