Blog Entry #4: Depoliticize the con scene
I’ve been attending conventions since 2006. Back then I attended the anime convention Kumoricon for the first time. It was a learning experience, but it started me down the road to where I am now. I love the con scene, I love the passion, the creativity, and the joy of fandom. Whether it’s sci-fi, fantasy, or anime my love for fans and the fandom has never wavered.
At the conventions I’ve attended I’ve seen many cosplays. I’ve snapped cosplay photos which have brought a smile to my face. And I've met my fair share of fascinating people among the con goers and Guests of Honor.
But in recent years a major problem has developed in the convention scene. One which needs addressing now for its long-term health.
The issue in question is modern politics interjecting itself. It's a problem becoming more evident and needs to get dealt with. This blog entry will talk about the issues of modern politics in the con scene and solutions to the problem.
Now for transparency's sake I'll say this. I am a Republican, a Trump supporter, and I’m proud to be who I am. Now that said I also recognize it’s not my right or place to force my beliefs down people’s throats. The problem is there are others who have no problem with doing so. It's something quite detrimental to the con scene.
Two of the most recent examples of this would be Anna that Star Wars Girl who in March got banned from the con C2E2. All because she’s an online commentator associated with “undesirable” people. Said people being John Malin, Shame Davis, and Ethan Van Sciver. But the con's public reasoning was because…Anna’s viewer base wasn’t…diverse enough? This is an example of what’s called a bad faith gesture.
It's also an attempt to keep from getting sued.
Gary from Nerdrotic had his press pass revoked by San Diego Comic Con. What’s more disturbing was the con's response. Their statement read that Gary should check out their harassment policy. Um…yeah that seems like a bad faith gesture. Now to be fair with Gary this may have been a mistake.
But a lot of people are still skeptical about that.
Anna’s removal of her press pass was no mistake though. It seemed more an attempt to silence and ditch her because she associated with “the wrong people”. This is an issue that will get discussed in this blog entry.
Anna and Gary’s issues are the most recent problems. Yet these problems have been happening with the convention scene for some time. Another good example of this is YouTuber, author, and comic book writer Jon Del Arroz. The incident happened around the time of the campaign of President Donald Trump. The author is a conservative and MAGA supporter.
He chose to take a picture of himself wearing a MAGA hat. Shouldn't be any issue with that. The problem was someone didn’t like what Jon did. Which is rather petty because wearing a MAGA hat doesn’t hurt anyone. Here's where the connection with the convention scene comes in.
First off, I appreciate Jon Del Arroz taking time out of his day to talk to me about this. At the time one of his books was starting to take off and was getting some very good feedback. He had made plans to attend Baycon, a local sci-fi convention for authors.
Here’s where the complication comes in. He later wrote an article on what happened. So, what you're about to read are Jon Del Arroz’s own words. Also, I’ll leave a link to the full article at the end of the blog entry.
But the convention, despite their namesake, has changed so it’s no longer about Bay Area authors. It’s not about Science Fiction either. One only has to go back to their last few years of programming to see what matters to the powers that be who have taken it over: it’s a place where politics transcend everything. You’re just as wont to find panels about “Combating Creationism”, “Climate Change Scenarios”, or “Diversity and Women”, and even on the appropriately themed programming, you’ll see guests like David Gerrold ranting about evil conservatives and hijacking innocuous topics. Looking at the Twitter feed of this year’s guest of honor, 95% of his posts are political attacks, so we can expect more of the same. What’s lacking is energetic talks about fun of Science Fiction. Ironically, when I first came to the scene, organizers saw my name as Hispanic and knowing little about me, placed me on programming that amounted to an hour and a half of complaining about how hard it is for minorities in fiction.
Believe me, I know how hard it is as the target of soft-blackballing like this.
The reason I was disinvited was because it is well known that I support the President of the United States, duly elected and all, and that I’m happy about the way the country is being run. You know, like most normal people are. That’s the only thing that’s changed between then and now. It’s the same dangerous rhetoric out there that many of these folk who run the convention post on such a consistent basis that has turned Facebook from a “fun catching up with friends” website to a hellhole of fear, anger and hate (which as Master Yoda taught us, leads to suffering!). It’s impossible to communicate anymore, and as such, there is a small but vocal power structure of people in the convention scene and publishing that can’t tolerate the concept of seeing my pretty face. I am a minority that’s been discriminated against, not because of my race, but because of my ideas. In Science Fiction, ideas are everything, and it’s frightening to think about those being shut down as a consequence. These people want my career to fail, and they believe they can accomplish that by silencing me and giving me the cold shoulder.
What they didn’t count on is this: they picked on someone who’s not the type to go down quietly and let them win with this kind of behavior. I don’t care about the odds and I don’t care about social pressure. I’m going to fight my hardest, even if I’m down 28-9 in the middle of the third quarter, when the commentators relentlessly tell me there’s no path to victory. Some things are worth fighting for, even in conditions like those. And I know how to win.
But this wasn’t the last time Jon would experience this sort of bad behavior. On a forum for science fiction authors Jon found many talking about him. And it wasn’t in a flattering way either. It got so bad he got banned from World Con. It's a convention known as one of the world’s largest for science fiction.
Again, this kind of behavior is not acceptable.
Jon would later file a lawsuit against those that black balled him and would win! Discrimination based on race, gender, or sexual preference is wrong. Discriminating against someone because of their ideas or beliefs is far worse. People like to talk about the dangers of hate speech and the need for hate speech laws. The problem is a lot of bad actors use hate speech laws to silence those who disagree with them.
These bad actors do so by applying the terms of the laws in a very subjective way. And that kind of thinking is dangerous to the con scene. It’s dangerous because it creates an intellectual bubble that's intolerant and destructive. modern politics has no place in any kind of fan convention. This kind of exclusivity is unacceptable.
Throwing people out of a convention for political beliefs sets a bad precedent. Taking away people's press passes based on petty grievance also sets a bad precedent. Again, that creates exclusivity in the con scene and leads to disastrous results.
Another example of this is one Mindy Wheeler who’s been rather vocal about her case. In her case it’s a demonstration of how bad comic conventions and the comic industry have become. All because of her personal politics.
On a side note, I’d like to thank Mandy Wheeler for taking time out to tell me her story. What you’re about to read are Mandy’s own words.
We had a retail shop, I was a published artist, and we were trying to start our own convention and out of the blue before we'd even announced our show publicly (and only like 3 days into planning it) Rob Liefeld started slandering us online which I believe came as a coordinated effort with a local comic shop that was direct competition and a contributor to Bleeding Cool. Bleeding Cool ran with this as a story (without doing any sort of investigative journalism whatsoever) and so did the whole internet. References to our personal politics were made and the whole nerd internet came after us, and so much of it was political. They hated our politics and painted us as evil people because we were voting for trump. They called us racist and took severe offense to our objection to things like pronouns, illegal immigration, and my stance on abortion
Before we knew it, BLM and trans rights activists were calling our cell phones, leaving voice mails, leaving false reviews on our business, so on and so forth, and effectively the whole industry from our perspective ostracized us.
Several publishers dropped me, and I was told outright I'd been blacklisted because of supporting Trump etc. and my husband being too offensive online (namely, his objection to pronouns)
Still to this day, I believe we didn't do anything wrong. We got painted as scammers by Liefeld and one by one, all our friends with DC and other publishers dropped their associations with us.
Telling us they weren't allowed to talk to us or publicly support us.
These are a few examples of the major issues that have come up. That is creative fields and cons getting overrun by petty politics.
This sort of thing promotes division and negativity in the con scene. It turns what’s supposed to be fun events into a political bubble. And such things are very unhealthy for people and the con scene. All too often it's promoted by people who are themselves miserable.
Fan conventions are no place for modern politics. When I'm at an anime convention I couldn't care less who someone votes for. On one hand I'm not comfortable with seeing the LGBTQ+ flag getting waved around a con. But to be fair I'm not comfortable with seeing a MAGA flag waved around at a convention either.
In the event any gay men, lesbian women, or trans people should read this let me offer some context. Before you start screaming about how you need your flag to feel represented know this. Harsh as this is going to sound the world doesn’t circle around you or me for that matter. You don’t need a flag to feel represented. Let your actions and individual content of character represent who you are.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr advocated for a world like that. The golden rule "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The only flags I want to see waved at fan conventions are the following. A flag of the Republic, the Empire, the Survey Corps, or the Holy Brittanian Empire. There are no issues with flags that represent fandom. But keep the modern politics out of the con scene.
Another issue that's come up is some Guests of Honor have demonstrated some bad behavior. To be specific they have other people cancelled from a convention they don't like. Or they have people fired from the convention who didn’t agree with their personal politics. Hence why we need to keep the personal politics out.
Special thanks to Lil Chief for his input in this matter. Much appreciated this helps a lot.
Now Guests of Honor can get accommodated on certain things. If they need time for themselves and their friends to pray that’s fine as long as it’s on their own personal time. If they can’t eat certain foods, they’re vegetarian, vegan, or do the whole carnivore diet that’s fine. That’s what apps like Door Dash and Grub Hub are for.
If a Guest of Honor wants to do an exercise routine that's fine. If said guest needs to or has a spouse who needs to breastfeed their baby that’s fine
The issue becomes when guests start cancelling staff members or other guests. Obliging Guests of Honor is one thing. But there has to be a point where conventions need to lay down the law and state, “This is the line you do not cross.”
A Guest of Honor code of conduct for the convention scene wouldn’t hurt in this matter. Especially with the fact certain Guests of Honor can be kind of toxic. Without going into detail certain con staff have made mention of such people.
Con staff also need to understand it's important to keep their personal politics out of the con scene. This is something that applies to all sides. Whether someone is Democrat or Republican shouldn't matter. What matters is keeping a tight knit group of con staff close and keeping the activists in fan clothing out.
Now it’s time for a major solution in depoliticizing conventions. The convention scene needs more con critics. I’ve been a con critic since 2023 when I started to notice some things that Sakura-Con botched up on. I made mention of such in my con critique. I’m happy to say in 2024 Sakura-Con improved their efforts.
I’ll be taking the same critical eye to Kumoricon 2024. While it is true I have a VIP pass I bought it with my own money so I can remain objective. For con critics there needs to be a good measure of impartiality. No accepting gifts that's part of being professional.
The scene needs more critics because going to conventions gets expensive. No one critic can do everything. Con critics need to go to conventions around the country and judge how they do. As part of the solution I recommend judging on the following seven criteria.
Number 1 is Customer/attendee service. Many have noticed that cons compromised by politics have very poor attendee service. That can be a death sentence for a convention over time. Especially when pointed out in con reviews. Cons get by on good will, and con critics make sure they stay honest.
Communication is number 2 on the list. Compromised conventions have people walking on eggshells. There’s no communication as everyone's afraid of getting backstabbed. And likewise, apolitical conventions promote teamwork and talking to each other. Which in turn leads to a smoother run convention.
The third is a big one as its enthusiasm. This lines up in with criteria number 2. A con staff that trust and communicate with each other can share the burdens. They can also flash a big smile for the attendees because they’ve got friends who’ve got their backs covered. That promotes enthusiasm in the convention and the fandom.
The fourth criteria is accessibility. Some con goers are in wheelchairs or on crutches, that's a simple fact. Making a convention as accessible as possible should be top priority. This falls in line with attendee/customer service. When the con goers are happy, everybody’s happy.
Criteria number 5 is panel/event variety. To have a good convention it’s necessary to have a wide variety of panels and events. But all con goers are different and no two will like the same thing. That's why having a variety of panels and events helps make sure everyone has a good time at the convention. A variety of panels and events makes a convention fun for everyone.
The sixth criteria may not seem important at first. But in the long run it's quite big as its food availability. Walking around conventions and going to a variety of events can build up an appetite. Which is why it’s good to have a variety of food available and have food period. A hungry con goer is not a happy one.
And now comes lucky number 7 of the criteria. This is one that got added considering recent events on the con scene. It's how well does the con keep modern politics out. This one got inserted as part of the effort to remove modern politics from the scene altogether. For this one the best way to handle it is a three-strike system.
First strike is one to two insertions. This one can get overlooked because the convention staff can’t pversee everything. And unfortunately, politics can sneak its way into even the tightest run ship. Strike 2 is three or four insertions which results in a half grade deduction from the convention’s score. Five or more that’s strike three and results in a full grade deduction.
Modern politics has no place in the con scene, no exceptions! The less modern politics there is in a convention the more people can enjoy themselves. This is how con critics can help. By these seven standards we can keep cons honest.
The last tactic as a solution is a drastic one that should get saved for a last resort. If a convention chooses to go full on political then it’s necessary to do this. Do everything possible to deny that convention money. Don’t register, don’t give them money, don’t do anything. A con that goes full on ideologue will 99.9% of the time change its tune when enough people don’t give them money.
Those that continue down that road end up going broke. Get woke go broke does have a legitimacy to it.
Convention goers can debate who’s the strongest character. They can debate which character is the best. These are arguments conventions can welcome. At conventions nerdy and geeky debates can and should get encouraged as long as they’re civil.
There've been four examples of modern politics getting inserted into conventions. There’ve been solutions on how to fix this. But these solutions need to get instituted as soon as possible. It's time to make sure the con scene will continue long after our time is over. Every little problem addressed, and solution put into place helps.
Thanks for reading this commentary. Sorry if it went a bit longer and took longer than I thought. Also, I’ll leave links to Jon Del Arroz’s channel here on Minds as well as his Subscribestar and YouTube channel. I’ll also leave a link to the article so you can read and judge for yourself.
I hope you enjoyed it still. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments. Did I miss anything? Did I do good or does my work need improvement? If it does need work how can I improve?
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Thanks so much for reading this blog entry. Until next time stay true to yourselves, stay classy, and God bless you all.
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