Geographical Illiteracy

[kevin_standlee]

I have just had a very frustrating exchange with someone who is convinced that should Helsinki win their Worldcon bid, the convention will be invaded by an army of supporters of a certain Rabid One because his publishing company is in Finland, so of course there must be hordes of his supporters all over the country.

Look, I'm on the Montreal Worldcon bid; I'm one of the members of its Board of Directors. But I very much do not want people to vote against Helsinki just because a sociopath incorporated his business in that country. It's stupid.

I've been told that I'm not paranoid enough about the Danger of the Puppies Invading Worldcon. Well, if the danger is that big, we might as well just dissolve Worldcon right now and go crawl under our beds and suck our thumbs while curled up in a ball of fear.

Comments

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Apparently the narrative is that the surge of supporting members this year is a bunch of clones who will all vote for the Worldcon to go to Helsinki, where VD's Vast Army of Minions will stage an Invasion to Take Over Worldcon by using the Special Secret SMOF Rules for changing the constitution permanently in one go to give the Evil League of Evil the right to pick the Hugo Award winners and Worldcon sites forevermore. Or something like that. In any event, it's based in a complete misunderstanding of how the system works.

The Secret of the Secret Masters of Fandom is that they aren't secret, and that the "secrets" they're apparently guarding are in plain sight — but many of the "secrets" are dreadfully boring when you get right down to it, so most people can't be bothered to pay attention.

Also, remember that people seem to prefer a conspiracy theory over straightforward explanations any day of the week.

Remember, I'm not speaking against Helsinki, which surely will be a great place for Worldcon should they win their bid. I'm speaking against stupid conspiracy theories.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

Ok, as conspiracy theories go, it's amusing in its fractal unlikeliness.

[buddykat.livejournal.com]

Apparently they can't see that they are taking the Evil League of Evil way too seriously, similar to the way that others take the term SMOF way too seriously.