Is it High School All Over Again?

Ah... High School. I'm sure the majority of fen remember those so-called glory days very differently than the former cheerleaders and jocks. It was during those years that many fen found themselves gravitating towards one another out of common interest and survival instinct. Most young fen weren't invited to the “cool” parties and found being bullied to be the normal experience. Those fen who weren't bullied and/or were popular were the exceptions, not the rule. High school was not a pleasant time for most fen.

We've created the exact same, painful, hierarchy within fandom. We call our cheerleaders and jocks, SMOFs. I'm not talking about the local organizers of small events and conventions. For this discussion, we will call them smofs. All caps will be reserved for our problem children.

I have spent many years involved in the local general fandom scene and in national genre specific fandom. The more I stick my nose into the national and global general fandom scene, the less I like it. From my fellow fans I've heard horrible phrases like, “We have to pick the obnoxious guy with money to represent us, because the SMOFs like their egos stroked in person.” or “If you offend the SMOFs, you tank your chances.” This should sound all too familiar to many fen, bringing back horrible adolescent memories.

What this has caused is stagnant and repetitive general fandom. If you want to find anything truly exciting or attractive to the young people, you have to go to that other evil... corporate America. Unlike the SMOFs, corporate America realizes that the fen are customers with money in their pockets. Those customers want stuff and if you give them their stuff, they will come and spend their money. This is why cons like DragonCon, SDCC, and NDSK succeed.

Hello SMOFs, I'm ready to offend you in the name of saving non-commercial general fandom. Get off your collective asses and stop lording your gray haired “traditions” over fandom. If you don't want to host the last generation of non-commercial general sf cons, you need to open up. You need to let the young people in and sweep the dust bunnies out. Make your identities and decisions known to the public. The reasons for those decisions also should be known. I don't ask that you let the peanut gallery make the decisions. That's disastrous. Just be transparent.

When making your decisions, don't base them completely on your own desires and interests. Take a good look at the whole body of fen out there. Think seriously about what the majority of them want. The fen ARE NOT here for your amusement. You are here for OUR amusement.