An Interesting Discussion Regarding Arisia

[zentinal.livejournal.com]

An interesting discussion between an Arisia newcomer / observer & someone who dismisses f&sf fandom in total - Weigh In, Have Fun! http://bit.ly/8Wt2d6

Comments

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

OT: that was a marvelous costume. I've still yet to deal with the pictures I took over the weekend, but if they came out well I've probably got a few to send you.

[twistpeach.livejournal.com]

Goody, I've only been able to find one or two and have none of my own.

This thread reminded me of a parent who approached me and a fellow actor after a children’s show where we had played husband and wife. She asked me how I might explain the difference between a real kiss and a stage kiss to her child.

With a blushing glance at my partner, I explained that onstage, you both know it’s pretend and you’re only telling a story for the people who are watching. Not to be outdone, my partner put in “yeah, in a real kiss, usually only one of you knows that.”

[aristabulus.livejournal.com]

There's a difference between saying something like...

"these A B C things I see appear to be unhealthy or disturbing, because X Y Z"
and
"your entire community is being dismissed/degraded because I choose to focus on a few bad apples"

It really doesn't matter how valid the point; if you wrap it up in a shit sandwich, no one is gonna eat it. This is the essential problem of Q's presenting-of-position. Also the essential problem of Rosenfield's OP in the link; although he was more eloquent, his piece shows a fundamental bias in how he cherry picked the parts that supported the story for which he was aiming. It's not really a surprise, as journalists have been doing this for decades.... still a rotten tactic.

I agree with the general point that moral relativism can cloud vision (for some people, in some instances)... _HOWEVER_, when Q invokes it within a shit sandwich with the rest of his argument, my impulse rebuttal is "who died and left you the tiara?" A stranger with a snarky handle on the internets is telling me that I'm wrong, as is my entire community? O NOES. Let me go turn my world upside down for this digital prophet!!!

*looks left*
*looks right*

...uh, no.

I readily agree with the general point that fandom is not all peaches and cream, and that there are some specific issues with Arisia regarding "the vibe." (I have heard this from multiple sources, long before the OP link was presented) I have my own list of things about fandom that infuriate me, and I try to not do any of them myself. I don't tend to confront random people about these things, as I can't fix them even if they wanted my help... I simply remove myself from the situation. I will put in the effort to try to help someone closer to me, though, but if they don't want it, there's not a helluva a lot I can do after that. Horse to water, and all.

I'm all for discussion that leads to improvement of things-which-are-lacking... But it must happen within the community; it will not be found on a biased piece with a rabid teal-deer-summoning troll shouting down any opposition.

[twistpeach.livejournal.com]

I've had plenty of assholes criticize me. I used to plug my ears and refuse to listen to them. I don't feel so insecure now. I'm not reinforcing their assholedom by reflecting for myself upon their criticism.

And I don't blame people too much for using stereotypes. Human beings group things in order to talk about them and understand them. Of course it's never the whole story, but we'd never get anywhere if we had to start with the whole story every time we opened our mouths.

Yeah, not everybody's like this or that. But maybe there's enough truth in the stereotype to acknowledge it and pay attention to it. And I say the asshole's got a point. Maybe we are not loving our fellow fans in the best way by telling them "I'll accept you exactly as you are and never dare to push you to improve your real life."