Outside of guest panels where the conservative or judeo-christian viewpoint is imported, you won't find much political or religious debate in Michigan fandom because the conservative and judeo-christian viewpoint is very much under-represented.
In the Pengiocon 3 con suite I heard someone speaking a conservative viewpoint while two of his buddies nodded in agreement. I held my breath and waited for the lashing, but none came. I looked around and saw nobody I recognized. I'm guessing these were Linux geeks and not fen. Now had he spoken up in, say, the Penguicon con suite at ConFusion he would have been slapped down so hard by you and others he'd likely not come to another fandom event.
It takes an articulate and confident person to stand up to an overwhelming majority, and those aren't qualities that are common in fandom. I, for one, feel quite unwelcome in a room full of people all in agreement that Christians are gullible morons. I've taken to wearing a big honkin' cross to fandom events so that if people want to spout off at the mouth they will at least be aware that they are being rude to someone. Should that fail to keep the discussion civil, though, I'll just opt to bail out of fandom because I don't have the debating skills to engage the masses and I don't have an infinite capacity for abuse.
You say you want debate but what you really want is a minority to beat up on.
no subject
In the Pengiocon 3 con suite I heard someone speaking a conservative viewpoint while two of his buddies nodded in agreement. I held my breath and waited for the lashing, but none came. I looked around and saw nobody I recognized. I'm guessing these were Linux geeks and not fen. Now had he spoken up in, say, the Penguicon con suite at ConFusion he would have been slapped down so hard by you and others he'd likely not come to another fandom event.
It takes an articulate and confident person to stand up to an overwhelming majority, and those aren't qualities that are common in fandom. I, for one, feel quite unwelcome in a room full of people all in agreement that Christians are gullible morons. I've taken to wearing a big honkin' cross to fandom events so that if people want to spout off at the mouth they will at least be aware that they are being rude to someone. Should that fail to keep the discussion civil, though, I'll just opt to bail out of fandom because I don't have the debating skills to engage the masses and I don't have an infinite capacity for abuse.
You say you want debate but what you really want is a minority to beat up on.
Amy