Just what is this "controversy" about, anyway?
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| Title: | Just what is this "controversy" about, anyway? |
| Creator: | [L S] |
| Date(s): | February 1989 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Blake's 7 |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Just what is this "controversy" about, anyway? was an open letter by [L S] printed in The Federation Archives.
The letter included opening and closing comments by Linda Terrell.
It was written in response to the debate about The Blake's 7 Wars.
Some Topics Discussed
- The Blake's 7 Wars
- fandom and profit
- powerplays and threats
- the future of fan-run conventions
- celebrities behaving badly
Comments by Terrell at the Beginning
For those among you who are doubting the wisdom and "truth", or the statements printed in my last APA zine, we can now print a letter from an ear/eye witness - she HEARD Paul Darrow make those statements; she was there when he did. She's written a detailed letter on it and signed it. Sort of a "so there" to those fans out there who have accused me of printing "lies and rumors". I had two corroborating sources when [A W] came to me with her statement. If I hadn't heard of it all from independent sources, I wouldn't have printed it.
The Letter
The primary dispute concerns the 'tour" being proposed by Terry Nation and Paul Darrow, which would possibly include other B7 guests, and which would apparently be backed by Laurie Cohen's Decima Productions. Based on early (and apparently, conflicting) statements, certain fans (particularly Ann Wortham and Linda Terrell) raised quite fundamental and justifiable questions about the tour. I will not reiterate in full what Mr. Darrow, Laurie Cohen and their associates said: what Ann Wortham reported in her "anonymous statement" accurately reflects most of what I heard with my own ears. I will vouch for the fact that Mr. Darrow had aired his premature opinions so widely that by the time I had dinner with him November 20th (a week before the tour's official debut), I was already aware, courtesy of the grapevine, that he and Mr. Nation were considering such a project. I was also aware that Mr. Darrow had been describing plans for the tour which I, personally, regarded as questionable. Mr. Darrow's monologue that evening with regard to fan conventions in general, and [L C] (among other things, he told three members of the GAMBIT ConCom at that dinner that [L C] had told him GAMBIT had 'stolen' her con, and that she'd asked him as a personal favor not to attend GAMBIT) and about GAMBIT in particular (he was eager to explain to us that GAMBIT would never get any guests other than Brian Croucher because he, Mr. Darrow, would personally tell the rest of the B7 cast members not to accept anything less than an offer of business class airfare and ($5,000.00 fee), fully confirmed (firsthand) what I had already heard (secondhand) about the tour and its purposes. Mr. Darrow's behavior in New York a week later (I am one of the people to whom he he made the crack about 75 seconds per fan, as one example) did not contradict the unfavorable impression he'd been giving.
However, whether or not Mr. Darrow's early statements about the tour agreed with the ideas of his fellow organizers, and whether or not his behavior (at the time he made those statements) was up to his legendary standard, is irrelevant to the basic issues at stake in Ann Wortham's statement. Any convention, large or small, professional or amateur/charity, ought to settle its own policies, and be prepared to defend then, before undertaking to do business. The questions that have been raised include; how exactly is the tour going to be administered? (Supposedly the hands-on work would be done by local clubs under Decmia's aegis, with Decima in some perennially undefined capacity as absentee overseer, public sponsor, and fee collector). What activities will the tour conventions include, and how will they be run? (What rules will govern the auction(s) and the 'dealers' room(s)? Will all fans be allowed to participate? What fees will really be charged? And which merchandise may (or may not) be offered for sale? Who will pay the convention taxes? Has Mr. Nation overcome the usual obstacles to having profession, perform series-related work at cons, by getting approval for his proposed activities from the Screen Writers' Guild, the Screen Actors' Guild, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and any holders (other than himself) of B7 copyright/trademarks?) What are the tour's purposes? (The proposed cons will definitely be run for the guests' personal profit; but is the tour actually designed to compete against fan-run conventions, or is that appearance just an unhappy coincidence?)
What changes would such a tour make in the nature of today's B7 fandom? Could not-for-profit fan conventions ever be able to get the 'tour' guests back? How will the fan/guest relationship be changed once the guests begin viewing us as sources of personal income, as well as friendship? If the tour were to get a virtual monopoly on certain guests, will that give its organizers a disproportionate amount of power to control fan convention-related activity in general? The backlash (it cannot be called a 'response') from tour adherents to these questions has been completely out of proportion to the supposed 'offense' (which they alone perceive), Rather than admit that they had differences of opinion (though minor disagreements are perfectly normal in the formative stages of any large scale project), or answering the questions with substantive intonation, key people associated with the tour have denounced the questioners as liars and rumor-mongers. Mr. Darrow, in particular, has reacted as though the questions (raised largely as a result of his own unguarded statements) were actually personal attacks. I would never have believed it if I hadn't had to deal with some of Mr. Darrow's actions myself.
Mr. Darrow retaliated against Ann Wortham's carefully worded general statement in FA with a series of escalating unpleasantness directed at first against Ann Wortham and Linda Terrell, and later against anyone who refused to disown Ann Wortham and Linda Terrell at his command. He circulated a libelous statement regarding Ann Wortham to various fan clubs, demanding that they print it regardless of possible consequences to themselves. (He never sent a copy to Ann Wortham ((nor to me. Ed)). He telephoned one of Ann Wortham closest friends, demanded that she take sides, and threatened to destroy Ann Wortham in fandom. He pressured contributors to Ann Wortham's zines to withdraw their submissions, and instituted a petty inquisition on the subject of her (and Linda Terrell's) involvement in slash (though he has known of slash for years without displaying this kind of obsession with the subject). Copies of a bogus "injunction" (with absolutely no grounding in legal principles or procedure) supposedly forbidding Ann Wortham, Linda Terrell, and Leah Rosenthal to make use of Messrs. Darrow and Keating's likeness have been circulating recently, bearing the return postmark of Mr. Darrow's home village.
Mr. Darrow has repeatedly refused to concede neutrality to anyone: as he insisted in his public statement (read by Mr. Nation at GAMBIT's Opening Ceremonies), one must either side with him or be an enemy. (In that same statement, he compared would-be neutrals to Pontius Pilate, taking upon himself a quasi-religious mantle which I personally would not venture to disturb). Not content with these efforts, Mr. Darrow widened the campaign presently to include organizations associated with Ann Wortham and Linda Terrell. Under unreasonable pressure, Marion McChesney gave way and fired Ann Wortham and Linda Terrell from the FREEDOM CITY ConCom.
Mr. Darrow never confronted GAMBIT directly with his demands, for reasons which he alone knows. However, despite the fact that we were determined to retain neutral (and had said so publicly and loudly), we learned (not long before the con) that he had contacted all our confirmed guests (except Mr. Nation) and asked them not to attend GAMBIT. (The other guests themselves told us} they were baffled.) Only a week before GAMBIT, Mr. Darrow called us and demanded to know whether his original invitation to attend still stood. Regardless of how he felt about Mr. Darrow's behavior by that time, the simple fact remained that we had committed all our available funds (and then some). He simply could not afford (not being millionaires or relatives of millionaires) to bring him to Newark without going bankrupt. Mr. Darrow never gave us a chance to explain. But apparently, he did expect us to bankrupt ourselves at his behest. A few days later (on the very eve of the convention) we heard from one of our guests, in great distress, who said that Mr. and Mrs. Darrow had just telephoned to say that their loyal friends in the US were going to inform the INS that GAMBIT'S guests were being brought into the country illegally, for money. Our guests might be turned back at customs and put on the next plane home, as a result. However, GAMBIT wouldn't have any such trouble if Ann Wortham and Linda Terrell were fired. A day later, Mr. Darrow called the same person back to say he'd only meant to threaten one of GAMBIT's guests, and that in any case, he was unsure he could restrain his loyal US followers. As before, GAMBIT did not hear from Mr. Darrow directly.
In their eagerness to garner recruits by any available leans, adherents of Mr. Darrow and the tour have further confused the original issue by using pre-existing emotionality-charged debates (such as slash, BNF/snf, and east coast/vest coast "rivalry") of dubious relevance as rallying cries for their supposed cause. In consequence, some fans who had no particular stake in the tour (by their own admission), have taken advantage of the situation to escalate existing feuds, under the pretense of loyalty to Mr. Darrow and his "cause." This has elevated a few old, tired debates to a completely artificial degree of importance, in addition to supplying the tour, and Mr. Darrow with a number of followers who are merely using the uproar for their own purposes.
The original controversy now encompasses side-skirmishes which have nothing at all to do with the original debate, but which are nonetheless being bitterly contested. Artificially-intensified or not, the chaos is spreading, contributing to the general damage being done to B7 fandom at large. Large numbers of fans are beginning to abandon B7 fandom with the same fervent enthusiasm with which they were joining up, not very long ago.
If Mr. Darrow does not like being quoted, he should be more careful of what he says, or else issue a simple, level-headed correction. If Decima does not agree with Mr. Darrow's version of its policies, it should remonstrate with Mr. Darrow directly, rather than mystifying upwards of 600 people by airing half its internal debates in a confusing, wasteful, and no doubt, expensive mass mailing. There is absolutely no justification for the kind of interminable personal recriminations that have been being levelled at Ann Wortham and Linda Terrell and anyone who refuses to reject then. Even if it had been wrong, there would be no excuse for continuing to mindlessly perpetuate a one-sided feud that is causing so much damage to B7 fandom.
The controversy which has come to surround Mr. Darrow and the proposed tour is only turning off potential attendees in large masses. The tour itself, (if Terry Nation's official "Press Release" mailed by Decima is accurate) sounds like a first rate idea. I'd hate to see the tour - and B7 fandom itself - come to grief, just because a few people involved with the tour would rather incite an emotional holocaust than admit to a normal human trait: fallibility.
Comments by Terrell at the End
I reiterate: I offered Mr. Darrow a Special Edition of the FA in which to issue a "level-headed correction". I wrote and asked Janet to please call me collect so we could talk it out. They have declined to answer, directly. I can only conclude that they wanted this flap to escalate, to encompass the slash controversy and the existing fan-feuds in order to cover the tact that Mr. Darrow had spoken unguardedly be tore members of a ConCom - and others, I gather. Our original statement did speak of how DOCTOR WHO guests had been "ruined" tor Fan Cons by the same type of "Pro" Con approach. When guests become, quite understandably, used to business class airfare and several thousands of dollars in tees, how, indeed, can mere fan-run cons compete?
Some DW guests eventually came to see US fans as so many wallets - and virtually said so! There is no "friendship" when actors are swayed by that kind of money. It DOES happen! I've seen it happen in DW. No matter how good the intentions, how "close" the friendships, we watched some actors allow a ring through their nose in order to be "acceptable" to a Pro type Con organizer - SPIRIT OF LIGHT.
I personally spoke with several actors who were a basket case of nerves lest they say and do "something wrong" and find themselves kicked off the S.O.L. circuit! Is this what we want to see the Bl guests come to?
And that is what [A W] and I tried to tell the fans: "Let the buyer beware". Mr. Darrow made some very contemptuous statements which sleighted [sic] fans. I believed then and still believe that it should have been made Public so that tans could make their CHOICE accordingly.
Yes, it split the fandom. But, as in DOCTOR WHO, perhaps we can go on with a Darrow fandom and a B7 Fandom. B7 was never a Church of Darrow - let them form their own branch and lets us real fans get about our fannish business.