Fandom. Can't we all just get along?

I posted the cartoon because I found it amusing. I think maybe I should have phrased the title better but I did like the comments I got. Feedback is a wonderful thing but don't feel like you have to comment unless you want to comment on what I say or post.

I am writing this with Shoreleave less than a month away. I have been thinking about conventions I really feel at home at rather than just a guest of the convention or a visitor. A number of years ago the conventions that felt like home were ChattaCon, LibertyCon, Atlanta Fantasy Fair, Magnum Opus Con, and DragonCon. Now the list is Farpoint, LunaCon, I-Con, Shoreleave, and DragonCon. These are conventions I feel very comfortable at and know that I am going to have a good time with good friends. Some of the conventions I use to feel at home at don't exist anymore for various reasons but a lot of it boils down to a delicate subject in itself which is fandom.

I have been a fan for a long time. I started going to convention when I was a teenager. I got into costuming through fandom first before I got into theatrical costuming. I saw my first episode of the Avengers at a convention (It was Never, Never Say Die with Christopher Lee which was the first time I think I saw him too). I saw my first Doctor Who episode at a convention. I think it was a Dixie-Trek and I know the episode was "Sunmakers". I also met one of my oldest friends who I am still friends with there Bill Ritch. I found a lot of different things that became passions at conventions and the Atlanta Science Fiction Club that met once a month. I also found a lot of people I could talk about these passions.

I also found politics and disagreements that went from minor tiff to major all out flame war BEFORE the internet existed. I have watched conventions disappear due to in-fighting between the convention committee or fighting with other conventions for position or even customers. I have had to deal with fans so rabid about their point of view that they find themselves quickly without support. Then there are the true loonies that have their own little world that they live in and if you try to get them to look at the world the way it really is they meltdown. I have met obsessed fans who have latched onto an author or an actor in their minds they are really good friends with this famous person where as the object of their affection is just being kind and many times regrets their kindness later.

Then there are the real BNF (Big Named Fans) and those who have declared themselves as BNFs. One cannot declare themselves as such. It is something that happens over time and usually they don't know that they have become one. There are the fans that have turned Pro which is what I did without realizing that I had done so until after the first convention I went to as a part of the Del Rey staff. A buddy of mine congratulated me on "going Pro". Peter did the same thing as did a number of my other friends. But a majority of the people I grew up with going to conventions are still fans. Some have become BNFs, some have remained just a fan of (fill in the blank), and some have dropped out of fandom except a certain convention or get together. A few have given up on fandom entirely.

The chant of "my fandom is better than your fandom" still exists and is probably louder than it was at one point because of the internet. Fans of one thing looking down on fans of another thing and pointing out how silly they are. The people who like both things say Star Wars and Star Trek try to get everyone to just get along so they can enjoy both with works most of the time. Then there are lines drawn within a fandom. I can remember when Star Trek: Next gen and the Original Trekker(ies/ids) went head to head at a Dixie Trek in the lobby. Not very pretty and the local news got a great sound bite they could use to show how strange us fans are. (Have you ever noticed that the TV crews search out the strangest of the strange and put them on? Most of the convention the attendees are dressed perfectly normal but they will be sure to show the people in costume on the screen with some silly title allowing the folks at home who might like the form of fandom that the convention is for but they are glad they aren't there dealing with those weirdos? But I digress). I can remember helping con security break up a drunken brawl between some Klingons and some Storm troopers. That was fun and my bruised face didn't look that great at work two days later. (I got elbowed by one of the drunks). My boss asked me what happened and I told him the truth and he told me that is why he avoids fan conventions.

Fans can be their own worst enemy. And unfortunately on the Internet they are proving lots of fodder for every snark, wank and drama site of which there are a number. And that saddens me. The good works are never mentioned. I think just about every convention I go to has some charity(ies) that they work with. Fandom can be a support system for some. Fandom can become a way of life (FIAWOL). For some fandom gives them what their families can't or won't. I know a number of people who see the fannish community as their family which I see as neither a good or a bad thing and considering some people's families I have know on occasion a good thing.

Fandom for me overall has been a good thing. It has lead to work. It has lead to friendships that have lasted a long time. It led me to my husband through a strange set of circumstances.

But recently I have seen again the ugly underbelly of fandom. The sniping and back biting and politics that just makes it hard to say I am a fan of (blank) because then you are going to get someone down your throat about it and why you should believe the fandom that they believe in especially within the fandom itself. I can't tell you how many down the nose looks I have gotten because I actually enjoyed the Paul McGann Doctor. Yeah it was not a great film but he was a great Doctor. I have been told I am not a true Doctor Who fan because of that and even more so because I was a member of the PMEB for a number of years. Now that the BBC is producing the good Doctor again it is vogue to bash on that "horrible little movie." Which most of these people didn't do when the movie came out. Then there is Beauty and the Beast and if you liked it after Catherine was gone then you are a horrible person and have no right to call yourself a Beauty and the Beast fan. I thought the show jumped the shark on that episode personally but there were still some really good episodes afterwards that I still love and I do consider all the episodes as part of my fandom. Blake 7? Gawds help you if you didn't think Avon was the end all and be all of the series. Charmed? If you liked Shannon Doherty performance then apparently you are the devil (and here I thought that was Cole). Then there are the Star Trek factions and the Star Wars factions. So far I haven't heard of any major fan wars within the Browncoats but I am sure someone can point me to something if they wanted to. Harry Potter fandom could get its own entry.

Every group seems to have their cliques and groups so they can rant about how bad the rest off the group is. But may be that is part of human nature. Me I tend to run the middle path of can we all just enjoy this as it is and not fight about why we are better than another group. I plan to enjoy myself at the conventions I attend this summer and rejoice with the other fans that we have fandom in all its forms rather than pick on other forms of fandom. We can be united or divided. It is our choice as fans.

I am grateful I am a fan of (entirely too many fandoms to list).